RAW NERVE

Australia, 1990, 91 minutes, Colour.
Kelly Dingwell, Rebecca Rigg, John Polson.
Directed by Tony Wellington.

Raw Nerve was filmed under the title Things and Other Stuff. It is a first feature by writer/director Tony Wellington. The small cast give strong performances - Rebecca Rigg, formerly in children's roles, as the adolescent girl, Michelle; John Polson, nominated for AFI award for best supporting actor in Blood Oath as Billy, Kelly Dingwell, as Dave.

The film was likened to John Hughes' The Breakfast Club - in so far as three teenagers spend some time confined together, in a house they have broken into, interact, insult other people, savage each other, reveal heart felt secrets. The film uses fairly fluid career movement, even though the sets are confined. The range of rooms in the house is well used - and there are interactions between the various combinations of two as well as amongst the three.

1. An Australian drama? Small scale, small budget? Focus on urban youth?

2. The set, the house, exteriors and interiors, the variety of rooms and locations? The affluent house? Musical Score?

3. The title, the youth and their entering into the house and their nerve, their own raw nerves? The original title?

4. The Australian background, characters, difficulties of the 90s? Issues: breaking into the house, the affluence of the owners? Building up relationships? Invading privacy? The decor, clothes? Bedroom, kitchen, poolroom? The further information given about the owners and Dave's relationship to them? The perspective of the decision to invade?

5. The portrait of Dave: age, family background, his father's work? his own work, study? Younger than Michelle? Friendly with her? Ambitions? Prying into the house? The interactions with Michelle, the break-in, the owners of the house, taking over, the search? The sexual tension? Billy's arrival, friendship. clash? Mutual dependence? The range of moods, serious, playacting, family? The importance of the truth, his mother and the relationship to the owner? His being taunted by Pilly? Michelle sympathy? The revenge on the family? The overall effect of the experience, purging his own feelings? The support of Michelle, the clash with Billy? The alarm and running away? the future?

6. Michelle, going with Dave, cautious about the break-in? The privacy? Looking for the money? Her relationship with her mother and the tension? Her age, breaking in for him, the relationship? Dave, friendship? Staying in the house, wanting, to leave? the food, dressing up in the clothes, smoking, the marijuana? Performing and interacting? The relationship with Billy, the clash? The moods? The story about her background, the pregnancy, the birth and the stretch marks? Being able to tell the story? Her future?

7. Billy intruding, following Dave and Michelle, older than them, dependent on Dave? Cheeky, working class style, his own work, tourist agency? Rude? His attitude towards sex? Taunting them both? In the bath, playing pool? ridiculing the owners? Alienated? his destructiveness - and destroying the objects in the house? The story of his parents? his ambitions and frustration? His future?

8. The camera styles, editing, sound effects - for naturalism? The importance of the dialogue and the interactions? The strength of the acting of the young cast? A psychodrama?

9. Reflecting the problems of the 90s in society, pressures on youth, individuals, relationship, class background, work, disappointments and disillusionment with their elders?