The Rage in Placid Lake Movie Review:


A general refusal to play the movie game is the strongest thing about McNamara's low-key Australian comedy. There's an amusingly askance approach to the whole coming-of-age process that keeps us engaged with the characters, even though it's both predictable and slightly too understated.

Placid Lake (Lee) is a nerdy teen who's almost pathologically misunderstood. That he constantly challenges everyone's preconceptions doesn't help. This attitude comes straight from his parents (Richardson and McDonald), flower children who could be a bit too progressive for their son's good. The only person at school who gets him is Gemma (Byrne), but they're more like brother and sister than boyfriend and girlfriend. So Placid decides to reinvent himself as a fully conformed member of society with a job in insurance. Which of course upsets everyone around him.

The script is full of that typical Aussie humour--both smart and absurd, blackly hilarious and sharply astute. As a film about subverting and/or meeting parental and societal expectations, the film revels in surprising us as an audience with its nutty plot turns, surprising characters and all sorts of twisted personality details. The cast grabs hold of this and runs with it, giving these quirky people an authentic desperation we identify with. When Placid produces his outrageously line-towing Sooper Dooper student film, we can understand his inner frustration ("Leni Riefenstahl would've been proud!"), and we can also cheer when he memorably drops the other shoe.

The scene-stealing roles belong to Richardson and McDonald, who wonderfully wrap their parental disappointment in drug-addled oblivion. And Stollery is terrific as Placid's dark horse of a boss. But the film belongs to Lee and Byrne, and they're wonderful at the centre, never betraying their confused characters with Hollywood characterisations. Their irritation at the way their friendship refuses to progress to anything else is almost uncomfortably authentic, as is their desire to rid themselves of their pesky virginity. (Dawson's Creek wishes it could've dealt with these topics in such an astute way!) Sure, we know exactly where this film is going, but there's plenty of charm to get us there with a smile on our faces.



Rich Cline

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