'Boxing Day' is not an easy film to watch. Shot in and around a suburban Adelaide house and garden, we watch Chris prepare lunch on Boxing Day for his teenage daughter, ex-wife and new partner. The home is sparsely furnished - Chris is recently out of prison. He is obviously nervous, meticulously preparing the lunch and tidying his home. But an ex-prison mate turns up, to Chris' horror - to the point where he tries to make his mate think he's out. Chris wants everything to be perfect for his daughter - this sudden visit is not part of the game plan. But he gets to talk to Chris and reveals a not particularly well-kept secret about the ex-wife's new partner. From there on in, everything spirals out of control.
As the daughter, ex-wife and her boyfriend arrive, we see, in painstaking detail, the painful journey of a father who must finally decide to expose the dark and disturbing secret that threatens to tear his family apart.
According to publicity this was shot in three takes with an element of improvisation to the script. It's a slow burner of a film - some people will hate it, for sure. But whilst it may be short on 'action' and 'entertainment', it's an amazing achievement for a film that I understand was shot on a shoestring budget of AUD$175,000.
