T BLOCKERS
Australia, 2023, 74 minutes, Colour.
Lauren Last, Lewi Dawson, Etcetera Etcetera, Lisa Fanto, Joni Ayton-Kent, Stanley Browning.
Directed by Alice Maio Mackay.
Writer-director, Alice Maio Mackay, has considerable talent. Understatement.
At age 16, she was writing and directing short films. At 17 and 18, she was writing, producing and directing three short feature films including T Blockers. She exhibits a 21st-century sensibility, but memories of horror films from the 20th century, hard rock musical styles, but, and this is one of her principal intents, to make films with a queer sensibility, trans sensibility, reaching out to this target audience.
Her films have appeared at various festivals, queer festivals, monster-film festivals…
With a greater release in Australia and availability, audiences interested in the filmmaker, her perspectives, her cinematic creativity, will have a chance to respond and make up their minds.
At the basis of the film is an echo of Invasion of the Body Snatchers, strange creatures emerging, black and slimy, taking over people, especially men, spreading harsh, violent, homophobic aggressive attitudes and behaviour.
However, at the centre are Sophie and Spencer, some domestic scenes of Sophie, a writer, creating the film, Spencer best friend. While there are sequences which might be considered “realistic”, especially Sophie having a visit from her sympathetic brother, later visit from her policeman father inquiring how she is, and Sophie working as a cleaner at the theatre, dates, there is an intercutting of the horror into the ordinary. Clearly, this requires a great deal of concentration on the part of the audience to appreciate Who’s Who and What’s What.
The film opens with a trans character, a performer, Et cetera Et cetera, from Rue Paul’s Drag Race Down Under, reminding audiences of the Rocky Horror Show, tantalising the audience with the reminder that they are watching a movie, that it’s only a movie… Et cetera Et cetera reappears at various stages of the film with this reminder.
So, very much a specialist film for its intended audience.
