LOCUSTS

Australia, 2019, 87 minutes, Colour.
Ben Guerens, Jessica Mc Namee, Andy Mc Phee, Steve Le Marquand, Nathanial Dean, Damian Hill, Malcolm Kennard, Ryan Morgan, Peter Phelps.
Directed by Heath Davis.

At the outset, there is a definition and explanation of locusts, and locust plagues. Locusts, small, menacing, even shape-changing, moving in hordes, descending on target, stripping it bear, almost an annihilation.

Perhaps that is a bit too strong for the drama that follows, but it certainly focuses attention.

What starts as a drama moves into the realm of the thriller as well as a crime story. It is brief, holding the attention, adding some unexpected details and challenges, and audiences thinking of the metaphor of the locusts.

While the film opens in Sydney, familiar scenes, Harbour Bridge, business offices, reminders of tech companies, the mood of the film changes as the central character, Ryan (Ben Geurens), seemingly a successful businessman, travels out to Western New South Wales, to vast desert country (which looks, at times, that it has been attacked and devastated by locusts). We have also been shown at the beginning of the film that this is mining territory, vast quarries.

In fact, filming was done in and around Broken Hill. And, for those who remember significant films, the situations, some outback desperation, some fierce macho attitudes, they will be reminded of Wake in Fright.

In fact, Ryan is going to his father’s funeral, a father he has resented in the past (with some grim flashbacks) and has not seen for many years. He also encounters his brother, Tyson (Nathanial Dean), who has spent time in prison and just survives in this raw atmosphere.

There are some local locusts who want to exploit Ryan, who are resentful of his father’s violence and its effect on them, who expect that Ryan has inherited significant money, pursue him off the road, abduct his brother, holding him to ransom.

On the other hand, another memory of his life in the town is Izzy (Jessica Mc Namee), helping her mother in a store, working as a lap dancer at night in the local club. We rightly expect that there is a connection between the two from the past – but there are some that we might not have anticipated.

The money? The possibility of a crime? Set-ups, dangers, consequences? While Ryan has been helped by an old family friend, Jake (Andy McPhee), we sometimes are wondering about how supportive he is. His character also introduces some environmental themes, search for oil, water contamination and consequent illness.

Ryan experiences more than he bargained for in his travelling out west for the funeral. We, and he, are not sure what is going back to Sydney for. But, on the evidence of this experience, he is a survivor.

1. The title? The explanation? The devastating insects, swarms, targets and annihilation? The title as a metaphor for the characters and action

2. The opening, the familiar Sydney settings? The contrast with the drive out to the west? The landscapes, mining and quarries, devastation of the land, indications of contamination of the water? The heavy vehicle, the discovery of a hand in the rubble? The musical score?

3. Story, age and experience, well-dressed, wealthy, the car, tech developments, hopes for the deal, visiting the doctor, prescriptions of pills and nerves? His fashionable car,
driving out to the west?

4. The significance of his father, the death, the funeral, those attending? Ryan having left the town when young? Meeting up again with his brother Tyson, the distance between them? Meeting the group, the sense of menace, driving him off the road, the demand for $100,000? His phone calls, knowing that he didn’t have the money? The time spent with his brother, their being no money in the inheritance, the souvenirs, the knife and its later use, the car for his brother? Their drinking? His brother’s abduction?

5. Jake, the hunter, the longtime friend, his offering to help Ryan, the desperate Ryan going to stay with him? His helping, the collaboration with Ryan and Izzy about the robbery? His helping hiding the money? Audience suspicions of him? The revelation, the violence, his property, the plans for fracking and the gas, the contaminations? His being bound and left beside the contaminated water?

6. Ryan, going to the club, the elaborate interiors, the customers, the pole dancing, the girls? Ryan meeting Izzy, memories of the past, his going to the diner, Izzy and her tough treatment of the customers? Her daughter and her illness? Her wanting to be in on the plan to rob the club? Forcing Ryan to collaborate?

7. The plan, the owner of the club, his drugs, his routines, counting the money, the safe? Izzy and the laxative, the effect on the owner? Her covering the security cameras? Ryan, nervous, agreeing, trying to avoid the local policeman, assuming he was in on the deal? The owner, in the lavatory, Ryan getting the key, the blurring on his arm of the code?

8. His finally getting the money, with Izzy, the owner not dead, the confrontation – and the shock of his being hit by the truck?

9. The burying of the money? The gang, the father and the wheelchair, the other toughs, Caleb and his ambiguity? Ryan delivering the money, their knowing about the robbery, the buildup to the confrontation, Ryan and Tyson tied up, getting loose, stabbing and shooting? The father and the wheelchair, confronting Ryan? Caleb entering, the gun, shooting the man in the chair? Audience realisation that Caleb was Ryan’s son?

10. Izzy, tough, her decisions, the appointment with the doctor for her daughter? Caleb going with Ryan – to what?

11. The film as family drama, thriller elements, crime and robbery, issues of drilling for gas and contaminating water, environmental issues?