WISH YOU WERE HERE (MA15+)
When: April 25
Where: Nova, Rivoli, Village Knox, Village Southland, Hoyts Chadstone, Classic, Kino, Como, Balwyn, Brighton Bay, Westgarth
IT’S probably one of the local film industry’s most dreaded phrases: “It’s good … for an Australian film.”
For some reason, be it our cultural cringe at seeing ourselves on the big screen or simply the lack of money in Australian filmmaking, Aussies are usually apprehensive when it comes to spending money on a film made by, well, us.
Kieran Darcy-Smith’s Wish You Were Here not only proves we can make great and challenging films but also that it shouldn’t be considered great ‘for an Australian film’ – it should be considered great, full stop.
Young, trendy parents Dave and Alice (Joel Edgerton and Felicity Price, co-writer of the film) travel to Cambodia with Alice’s sister, Steph (Teresa Palmer) and her new boyfriend, Jeremy (Antony Starr).
The opening montage of the group laughing at markets, getting drunk among the fluorescent lights of dingy bars and taking drugs on the beach seems to wordlessly sum up the relationship many Australians have with south-east Asia.
After one particularly raucous night, Jeremy goes missing without a trace, leaving a distraught Steph in Cambodia and clinging to the hope that Foreign Affairs will find him unharmed. Dave and Alice soon return to their young family in Sydney and try to move on with their lives. When Steph also returns, information emerges about that night and suddenly the truth becomes impossible to ignore.
Wish You Were Here keeps you guessing for the entire film. Was Jeremy abducted? Was he discovered with drugs and arrested? Is it the result of a business deal gone wrong?
Each character is played to perfection. Edgerton, usually a solid presence, shows the fragile descent of a man desperately trying to erase a memory, while Palmer makes the audience feel both sympathetic for her hopeless predicament and irritated by her naivety.
But it is Price whose star shines brightest. Her journey from caretaker of her sister and husband to ruthless, suspicious and desperate woman is one of the best performances of the year to date. And that’s not just for an Australian film.
