LAST TRAIN TO FREO

Australia, 2006, 85 minutes, Colour.
Steve Le Marquand, Tom Budge, Gigi Edgley, Lisa Hensley, Gillian Jones, Glenn Hazeldene, Reg Cribb.
Directed by Jeremy Simms.

Last Train to Freo is a surprisingly impressive film. However, potential audiences need to be warned that it is quite tough going. Playwright Reg Cribb has adapted his theatre work for the screen. However, he has retained the single set and much of the dialogue. While the film does indicate its stage origins, the editing and pace make it much more cinematic than might be expected.

Freo is the Aussie abbreviation for the coastal city of Fremantle, out from Perth. The last train goes through the suburbs of Perth, through central Perth to the coast. This particular night, the guards are on strike and there are very few passengers. The set is the single train carriage – which can feel a bit claustrophobic but director and editor have made sure there is such a variety of shots, close-ups and medium shots so it is as if the camera is doing our focus for us as we change our glance from one character to another.

The principal characters are two former prisoners, one middle-aged with a loud mouth and tough attitude. The other is a young drug addict, emotionally dependent on the older man. They horse around, interact with banter (which is sometimes vicious) and wait for whoever comes into the carriage. Steve Le Marquand (listed as The Tall Thug) received a well-deserved nomination for Australian Film Institute Best Actor for 2006. Tom Budge is effective as the young Trevor.

The first passenger is a young woman, Lisa (Gigi Edgely) who gets the expected treatment, the taunts, the sexist remarks, the flirting, the menace. Next comes a quiet man who sits at the back and seems to be taking notes. Then an older woman arrives with suitcases. She has left her drunken husband. She stands up for Lisa, gets told off and sits and waits.

At first this is not entirely gripping and one wonders what the film is about and (besides Freo) where it is going.

Then tables turn, surprising revelations emerge and all the characters are powerfully involved in emotional, verbal and physical interactions.

The acting is exemplary. The dialogue, very salty (to use a euphemism). The revelation of character well worth the experience. Actor Jeremy Sims has done fine work in transferring this play to the screen.

1.The impact of the film? The single set? The focus on characters, dialogue, interactions? The twists? The cumulative effect of being in the train carriage with these characters over the hour and a half?

2.The original play, the adaptation by the author for the screen? The single set, acting as a stage? The camera and its ability for close-ups, for group scenes? The editing of the play as cinema? Claustrophobic or not? The dialogue, the action?

3.The musical score, the music in the train, the classics? Trevor and his beating the tempo for Vivaldi? The discussions about ‘Moonlight Sonata’? ‘The Blue Danube’ and the dancing? The range of classics?

4.The strength of the performances, commanding audience attention, interest, puzzle?

5.The title, night on the train, the last train, the Western Australian setting, Perth, the train going through Perth to Fremantle? The train itself, the guards on strike? The various stops, the information on the PA system, the doors closing? The delay and the train stopping? The various stations, the time between stations, the stations as lonely – and the stations with the revellers outside?

6.The character of the tall thug? The introduction, his height, look, tattoos, audiences judging them? His manner of speaking? The relationship with Trevor? A kind of guardian, yet attacking him, the horseplay, the cultured talk, the classics, music, Prague? Intelligent but coming from the Midlands? His going to Freo? The dependence with Trevor? Trevor as young, on drugs, having slit his wrists, brash, the music, the bet, the fooling around? The two and their poses, as thugs, the prison background, the effect? Later discovering the truth about them? The psychological discussions?

7.Lisa and her getting on the train, her age, appearance, alone, reticent, the advances, her reaction to the taunts? Her smiling, then laughing? Talk, studying law? The possibility of her getting a cab? The bets whether she would leave the train or not? Her own fears, moods, defensiveness? The sexual advances? The dance? Maureen’s arrival, offering her the money for the taxi, her not going, her wanting to be self-reliant, her criticisms of Maureen?

8.The tall thug and his reaction to Lisa, asking about her, taunting her, commenting on her fears, her disdain? The dance, the sexual innuendo, the discussions about her boyfriend, the law, the effect of these conversations on each of them? Trevor and his participating, being silent, observing? Playing up to the tall thug? The bet about moving on?

9.Maureen and her getting on the train, her age, appearance, the cases, silent, her reactions, defending Lisa, giving her the twenty dollars, being told off? Her telling the story of her life, her husband, the drinking, the marriage, the children? The tall thug offering to kill her husband? Her reaction? Her interventions? A good woman, not getting off the train?

10.Simon, the passenger, his appearance, bald, sitting at the back of the carriage, alone, jottings? Observing? Finally the tall thug approaching him, demanding an apology, looking at his notes, reading them aloud, the argument?

11.The story of the attack on the station, the knives, the girlfriend, the court, the sentence? The tall thug and his explaining he was not guilty, his short sentence?

12.Simon and the revelation about his brother, his anger, listening, wanting the tall thug to explain why he attacked his brother? Not just describe? His having the gun, his demands? The irony of his being with Lisa, the reasons for observing the two? Lisa setting them up? The confession, the motivation? The court sequences, his not speaking up, his reaction to his brother being gay, the shame? His anger at his brother in a vegetative state? The aftermath?

13.The tall thug, taunting Simon, recognising him, the change, the situation and the mood, Simon and the gun, the truth, the tall thug and his affair with Simon’s brother, the brother being ashamed of him, his loving the brother, not introducing him to the family, the knife, the brother attacking? The defence, the vegetative state? Trevor’s reaction to this information?

14.The further talk, insights, the interactions and enlightenment? The interconnectedness of the group on the train? The cathartic effect? Seeing the site of the attack, getting off the train – what was each character left with?

15.The comment on society, critique, the good and the bad, opportunities and choices, crime, boredom and violence, the need for love, commitment, betrayal, sexual relationships, homosexuality, prison? The need to confess? Healing?