West

After beginning the script 20 years ago, Daniel Krige finally makes his feature film directorial debut. And what a first showing it is! This film is sheer raw power – all the ingredients are here to make for utterly compelling viewing – and they all add up to an overwhelmingly depressing look at the segment of society that seems to have very few choices, and those they do have are bad.

Although Western suburbs culture has been explored in different ways in films such as Romper Stomper (1992) and The Boys,(1998) the characters we meet in West are still shocking to those of us unaccustomed to such lifestyles. We first meet them in a grimy stormwater canal area, a grey, gloomily bare symbol of all the despair in their lives. From the outset their aimlessness is in your face. As Jerry so eloquently says “you make plans – they fuck up – you get depressed – better not to make plans.” They cruise between the canal and the pub, where they play pool, then take women they meet back to the canal for sex. The boys’ attitudes to women are daunting, perceiving them to be merely sexual objects. Mick (Michael Dorman), one of their mates, an odd misfit type character with a stutter, contemplates rape as a feasible solution when you can’t get laid. His outlook is a stark reminder of hopelessness as he states “I remind myself there’s hope – if things get too bad, I can kill myself.” How tragic these young people’s lives are. Casual sex and casual violence seem to underpin it all. What subsequently happens to Mick is so shocking yet, in some ironic way, turns his life around for the better.

No such turnarounds for Jerry and Pete. For a short time Jerry gets a job at a fast-food outlet. This and his short-lived love for Cheryl are the only vaguely positive elements in his life. Once the vicious triangle of Pete, Jerry and Cheryl intensifies, however, things only get worse. Pete deals a lot of drugs for supplier Steve (Tim McCunn), but is always vulnerable to local standover merchant, Kenwood (Anthony Hayes) who waits in the railway underpass to roll him. Kenwood’s callous and vicious attack on Pete is a critical plot point which will eventually lead to a tragic outcome.

I found myself convinced of the authenticity of Krige’s characters. The dialogue sounds just right; things the characters do seem so true, and nothing grates. In one brief scene we meet Jerry’s parents and one glimpse of his father (the wonderful David Field) goes a long way to support the reality of the cycle of abuse.

The three leads perform as if they were born to the life they’re portraying. Alexy, in her feature debut, encapsulates all the contradictions of Cheryl, who doesn’t want to be seen as a slut, and yet can’t help herself acting like one. Chittenden plays Pete as a nice guy who’s gone horribly wrong, while Phillips dominates the screen with a mix of energy, pain, vulnerability and toughness.

West looks great too, with a bleakness captured in so many of the scenes, shot in a variety of settings ranging from pubs to brothels, from grimy bedrooms to hospital rooms. Add to this the mournfully haunting voice of Johnette Napolitano (of Concrete Blonde) in some of the excellent soundtrack, and you have a significant film that packs a powerful and sobering punch.

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