I MET A GIRL
Australia, 2020, 108 minutes, Colour.
Brenton Thwaites, Joel Jackson, Lily Sullivan, Zhara Newman, Peter Rowsthorn, Annie Finster, David Woods.
Directed by Luke Eve.
The title sounds rather innocuous – and nice. And, in many ways the film is although it develops in unexpected ways.
The I of the title is a young man, Devon, played with some subtlety and engaging by Brenton Thwaites. He is somewhat erratic as we first meet him, playing with a band at his older brother’s wedding, then the situation getting out of hand in his lyrics and his speeches. It emerges that he has had mental problems and that his brother, Joel Jackson, has taken responsibility for him. Their parents seem somewhat helpless.
This is a film, then, about schizophrenia. While Devon is engaging, his erratic behaviour makes demands on his brother and his now pregnant wife. Devon has been in and out of institutions. Out and about, he imagines a superhero (played by Peter Rowsthorn from Kath and Kim), rather cut-rate budget costumes, who advises the young man. There is also a sinister character who appears to him frequently, a nurse with the syringe who is beyond Cuckoo’s Nest. But he meets a young woman, Lucy (Lily Sullivan, who takes him in, chats happily, they go on outings, sexual encounter – and then, she is no longer there, leaving a note for him to meet her in Sydney’s Hyde Park. They are in Perth. And the audience begins to wonder whether she is real or in his mind.
A lot of the film, also engaging, shows Devon crossing Australia from Perth to Sydney, encountering all kinds of ordinary people, nice with a child, on the train, apparitions of both imaginary characters, advised to jump off the train, trekking the outback, getting a lift from a hunter, meeting all kinds of people.
The climax of the film all takes place in Sydney, many scenic views, Devon searching everywhere for Lucy, being kind to a down and out who helps him. But, his brother arrives, and takes him back home.
The film has something of an unexpected and pleasing ending – with more than a touch of hope for Devon.
- The title, commonplace, yet significance for Devon, for Lucy?
- An Australian film, characters, accents, experience? The Western Australian settings, the city of Perth? Out in the Australian desert, towns and cities along the way to Sydney? Sydney, the harbour, bridge, the familiar sights? Hyde Park? The institutions and interiors? The musical score and songs?
- Devon’s story, age, experience, music and composition, the band, his brother’s wedding, the scene, his parents, singing, the lyrics, creating a scene, his being taken away to the institution? Five years passing?
- Devon and his relationship with his brother, his schizophrenia, experience as a child, his brothers care for him, concerned? The brother, serious, the relationship with Olivia, her pregnancy, Devon in the institution, coming to live with them, ousting him, their losing him, the search, the posters?
- Devon, his experience of schizophrenia, the appearance of the superhero (from a small budget superhero film!), The contrast with the nurse, her fierce face, the needle for injections? The continued appearances? The range of colours on screen, indicating phases of his experience?
- On the building, with the superhero, his overbalancing, falling, surviving, Lucy finding him, putting him in the bath? Lucy, her work, the Marilyn Monroe outfit? Talking, going for the walk, the sexual relationship? Her disappearance? The note? Whether she was real or in his mind?
- The decision to find Lucy, to go to Sydney, the various experiences, his dealing with people, friendly, children, adults, in the train, the episode, his guitar, his fears, of the train, wandering the desert, finding the deserted house, Tom the Hunter, taking him to Port Agusta, buses, making his way to Sydney? To Hyde Park?
- Devon in Sydney, making his way, the encounter with Soul, eccentric, talking, giving him his shoes, going to hospital, the meal? Going in search of Lucy? Mistaking the girl in the yellow dress? In Hyde Park?
- The irony of television interest in him, the interview, the hosts, the questions? His brother seeing him on television? Travelling to Sydney, trying to bring him home, their struggles, their frank talk with each other? His going back to Perth?
- The talk with a psychiatrist, her affirming him, in the institution, his decision to leave? The chance encounter with Lucy, after his getting the job in the music store, playing music with the proprietor, her being real, the relationship? Inviting his brother and wife to the restaurant as he had in the past? The scepticism? Lucy’s arrival? The range of attitude?
- Devon, his understanding of his mental condition, coping with it, taking decisions, the support of Lucy, his brother, his brother’s wife and the birth of the baby? Future?