THE LEGEND OF THE FIVE

Stars: Lauren Esposito, Gabi Sproule, Leigh Joel Scott, Nicholas Adrianakos, Deborah An, Beth Champion, Eric James Gravolin, Matthew Pritchard and Tiriel Mora.
Writer: Peter McLeod
Director: Joanne Samuel

Rating: ★ ★ ★ ½

The Breakfast Club go to Ferngully in The Legend of The Five, the new Aussie Y.A. indie romp that leans heavily on the ‘80s teen movie beats to soft-sell a contemporary and urgent environmental message. Director Joanne Samuel and writer Peter McLeod show a lot of respect for their target audience, those socially-aware, issue-driven young people who look to Greta Thunberg in the same way their parents looked to Molly Ringwald.

The core group of characters are a demographically-diverse lot, clearly designed to appeal to as many corners of a modern high-school courtyard as possible. The key protagonist is displaced American Zoe (Lauren Esposito), whose dad has chosen to move to Australia to help cope with the death of Zoe’s mom. A loner at her new school, Zoe crosses paths with perky alpha-girl Caitlin (Gabi Sproule); her jock bf, Javier (Nicholas Adrianakos); dark, arty type Kaylee (Deborah An); and, bespectacled book-worm Brit, Owen (Leigh Joel Scott).

On a school excursion to a museum, the group find themselves in possession of a mystical wooden shaft (introduced in a thrilling prologue, set in 1922 and straight out of an Indiana Jones-type spectacle), that soon hurtles them across space and time into a woodland fantasy realm. Here, an ageing wizard (the great Tiriel Mora) sets their quest in motion - the chosen five are ‘elementalists’, representative of nature’s forces, and they must seek out The Tree of Knowledge (recalling James Cameron’s own enviro-epic, Avatar) and save it from an evil sorceress (Beth Champion) before the forest, then the world, is destroyed.

Gen-Xers will have a blast spotting nods to the films of their youth that have provided inspiration for Samuel’s first directorial effort, coming 41 years after she played Max’s wife Jessie in Dr. George Miller’s iconic 1979 actioner, Mad Max. The bickering besties are cast a little older, but they could be The Goonies, or its more fantastical offshoot, Explorers (both 1985). The creatures of the make-believe world (stunningly shot amongst Sydney’s Blue Mountains by DOP Casimir Dickson) recall Ridley Scott’s Legend (1985), Jim Henson’s Labyrinth (1986) and, more recently, Andrew Adamson’s The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe (2005).

Where Samuel and McLeod most successfully stake their claim as strong, legitimate voices for the younger generation is in a sequence that takes their characters deep into a darkness where they must confront their own negative selves. The scene highlights teenage fears, jealousies, grief and insecurities in very real terms, utilising the fantasy setting as a means by which to conquer those forces that bear heavily on young minds and emotions. 

It is a bold narrative sidestep that adds resonance to a film that might have otherwise played too simplistically for the 13+ age bracket. As it stands, The Legend of The Five is solidly-packaged, all-ages Australian entertainment with strong international prospects.

THE LEGEND OF THE FIVE will play a limited Australian theatrical season from June 25; other territories to follow.

HIDDEN ORCHARD MYSTERIES: THE CASE OF THE AIR B&B ROBBERY

Stars: Gabriella Pastore, Ja’ness Tate, Davey Moore, Vanessa Padla, Donovan Williams, Kim Akia, Hunter Bills, Diane D Carter, Camilla Elaine, Ole Goode, Kevin Robinson, Edward Pastore, Jaymee Vowell, Catarah Hampshire, Carlos Coleman and Orlando Cortez.
Writer/Director: Brian C. Shackelford

WORLD PREMIERE will be held online via CYA Live on Friday June 12 (7.00pm EDT)/Saturday June 13 (9.00am AET); tickets available here. Then from June 16 on platforms including iTunes, Vudu, Google Play, Xbox, Amazon, and FandangoNow.
 
Rating: ★ ★ ★

Two winning lead performances and the present-day reimagining of well-worn tropes go a long way to smoothing over some bumpy plotting in the family franchise kicker Hidden Orchard Mysteries: The Case of the Air B&B Robbery. As Gabby and Lulu, the tweenage besties whose sleuthing reveals an ugly underside in their well-to-do suburban life, Gabriella Pastore and Ja’ness Tate are wonderful; iGen Nancy Drews dealing with the weird adults around them as best they can.

Behind the manicured lawns and upmarket homes of the middle-class American world that is Hidden Orchard, where investment in the rented residential space of the title is the hot new thing, a break-and-enter rattles the population. Gabby and Lulu see an opportunity to spark their vacation time and set about solving the crime, allowing them to peer inside the lives of their neighbours. 

What unfolds is ‘Teen Mystery 101’, de rigueur for fans of young detective staples such as The Hardy Boys or Harriet the Spy. Director Brian C. Shackelford helms competently in a manner suited for the small-screen, though is let down by wavering tonal shifts in his script (working from a story by Joyce Fitzpatrick). His lead actresses have a lovely, natural chemistry and their time on-screen is the film’s greatest asset. However, support players range from broad ‘sitcom schtick’ (Carlos Coleman and Catarah Hampshire, as the local cupcake retailers, hit OTT heights rarely seen outside of The Disney Channel) to Scooby-Doo villainy (“I would’ve got away with it if not for you meddling kids!”) and all points in between.

Most interesting are the contemporary flourishes that are clearly an effort to bring the traditional ‘teen mystery’ narrative into 2020 (and may push the film into 13+ censorship brackets in some territories). Rarely in even her most daring adventures did the Nancy Drew of old have to deal with a weed-growing mom-next-door; a gun-wielding, tough-talking baddy; extramarital liaisons (don’t worry, mums and dads, it’s all off-screen); or, most diabolically, a shady insurance executive’s pitch presentation. 

The film’s best real-world drama happens between Gabriella Pastore and Camilla Elaine as her stepmom, Cynthia, as they struggle to deal with their new relationship. While Lulu is all sugar’n’spice, Gabby is a child of divorce and has a slightly jaded world view. Pastore and Tate find a nuanced truthfulness in their girl-power bond that conveys a particularly strong kinship; their friendship feels sturdy enough to survive whatever their broadening experience offers up, and then well into adulthood. 

To the production’s credit, Shackelford populates Hidden Orchard with a culturally diverse group, even if some border on caricature (Orlando Cortez’s Hispanic gardener; Jaymee Vowell’s screechy redhead busy-body). The June 12 premiere of the film will coincide with the ongoing #BLM protests in many U.S. states, giving added and unexpected weight to a line spoken by white Police Chief Wellar (Corey J. Grant). In a moment of contrition, he states, “Maybe my way is not always the best way.” The ‘teen detective’ narrative is an old one, but The Case of the Air B&B, from its title on down, is a very up-to-date reworking.

100% WOLF

Voice cast: Ilai Swindells, Jai Courtenay, Samara Weaving, Magda Szubanski, Rhys Darby, Akmal Saleh and Jane Lynch.
Writer: Fin Edquist; based upon the novel by Jayne Lyons.
Director: Alexs Stadermann

Available to rent in Australia from 29 May on Foxtel, Fetch, Apple, Google Play, Sony PlayStation and Microsoft Xbox.

Rating: ★ ★ ★ ★

The frantic, funny, family-friendly animated energy that powered the likes of Cloudy With a Chance of Meatballs and Hotel Transylvania to global box office heights ought to earn 100% Wolf a similar number of eyeballs when word spreads what a cracking piece of all-age entertainment it is.

Adapted from the bestselling 2009 YA-fantasy novel by expat British author Jayne Lyons, director Alexs Stadermann and scripter Fin Edquist (reteaming after the success of 2014’s Maya the Bee Movie) pitch the excitement level high from the first frames. A pack of werewolves bound over moonlit rooftops (recalling the artful imagery of Bibo Bergeron’s A Monster in Paris), before rescuing humans from a burning house. Along for the adventure in preparation for his transformation from human boy to teen wolf is Freddy Lupin (Ilai Swindells), son of the clan’s ruling high-howler Flasheart (Jai Courtney), a position that Freddy is predestined to fulfil.

Six years later, the night of his first ‘transwolftation’ is an embarrassing disaster; in a whirl of supernatural mist, Freddy transforms not into a snarling lycanthrope but instead a fluffy white poodle. Banished from werewolf society, he befriends street-tough mutt Batty (Samara Weaving) and becomes entwined in a good-vs-evil battle, pitting him and his unlikely dog-friends against villainess The Commander (US import Jane Lynch) and his own family black sheep, Uncle Hotspur (Rupert Degas, putting his spin on Jeremy Iron's intonations in The Lion King, which this film occasionally recalls). Also in the narrative mix are book favourites Harriet and Chariot, aka Freddy’s terrible cousins (Adriane Daff and Liam Graham, respectively) and wolf hunter Foxwell Cripp (Rhys Darby, lightening up the central bad guy of Lyon’s book).

The clear subtext in both the book and film is one of accepting that which makes us unique, of celebrating the individual. Metaphorically, Freddy is faced with a struggle against both his family’s expectations and his changing body, a universal conundrum for pre-teens. Double-down on the symbolism of his appearance (that shock of very pink hair) and overt non-alignment with gender stereotypes and our hero, and his movie, prove far more fearless than they might first appear. Parents, older siblings and enlightened tots will appreciate the character depth in the midst of all the frenetic slapstick, staged with giddy efficiency by Stadermann and his top-tier contributors.

Backed by the Oz sector’s governing body Screen Australia, with state-based financiers Screenwest and Create NSW on board, and produced by leading animation outfit Flying Bark Productions with the help of post-production house Siamese, 100% Wolf has a pedigree that demands international exposure. Already a hot literary property, the feature will go into German-speaking territories via distribution giant Constantin Film, while 26 short-form Freddy Lupin adventures are being co-produced by Australian Broadcasting Corporation and Germany’s Super RTL; in January, a vast merchandising line was introduced at the International Toy Fair.

That is a lot of responsibility being placed upon the fluffy poodle-shoulders of our protagonist. But, as 100% Wolf teaches us in the midst of a lot of giggly fun and colourful adventure, when given the opportunity to defy expectations and choose your own path in life, anything is possible.

GO!

Stars: William Lodder, Richard Roxburgh, Frances O’Connor, Anastasia Bampos, Darius Amarfio Jefferson, Cooper van Grootel and Dan Wyllie.
Writer: Steve Worland.
Director: Owen Trevor

Rating: ★ ★ ★

…or, “The Kart-y Kid.”

A young, widowed mum cuts ties with the sadness of her past life and travels cross country to give her teenage son a fresh go at young manhood. There, he finds a new father figure of sorts in an old sports recluse, who bestows wisdom upon his new charge while finding his own new lease on life.

So went John G. Avildsen’s 1984 teen classic The Karate Kid and so goes Owen Trevor’s Go!, which swaps out Ralph Macchio, Pat Morita and ‘The Crane’ for William Lodder, Richard Roxburgh and the inside lane in its shamelessly derivative but generally likable retelling of the familiar narrative. Also gone are the martial arts (except for one quick nod to the source material’s ‘junkyard brawl’ scene), with the dusty, screeching world of go-kart racing providing the new road to realising one’s potential.

Handsome newcomer Lodder impresses as Jack Hopper, a generally upbeat young man despite the loss of his dad (Adam T. Perkins, in flashback) several years prior. Why mum Christie (Frances O’Connor) decides to relocate from Sydney to Busselton, Western Australia when both seem to have overcome the worst of their grief (he died when Jack was 11, a good eight years ago) is never fully reconciled by writer Steve Worland’s sometimes patchy narrative, though dialogue and character represent a marked improvement over his previous work, Paper Planes (2014).

Christie scores Jack an invitation to the birthday party of Mandy (Anastasia Bampos), the best darn mechanic in all Busselton and daughter of local go-kart magnate Mike Zeta (Damian de Montemas, the film’s ‘Cobra Kai’-like villain). The meet will be held at the local go-kart dustbowl, overseen by world-weary crank-pot recluse, Patrick (Richard Roxburgh), whose gruff exterior hides a pain that…anyway, you get the drift. When Jack channels his inner hoon and proves to be a go-kart natural, Patrick and Mandy join his crusade to dethrone Mike’s son Dean (Cooper van Grootel, going full-Zabka) by taking it ‘all the way to the Nationals’.

As in all manifestations of The Karate Kid, the best moment in Go! is the training montage, during which the brash cockiness of the young un’ is worn down by the wise old master with the kid having no idea he is being readied for his new life goals. The ‘wax on, wax off’ scenes are played well (Karate Kid tropes are even referenced in one off-camera comment), as are those final crucial moments which indicate Daniel…I mean, Jack has learnt an important lesson about respecting your elders and growing out of the past. Mid-section has very little to do or say and conjures some minor conflicts without much conviction before getting back to the action.

In his feature directorial debut, Trevor captures the close-quarters go-kart action with an immersive energy (a professional history filming the Top Gear series proves a bonus), though he can’t breath too much life into perfunctory subplots involving Jack’s new best bud, Colin (Darius Amarfio Jefferson, in the comic sidekick role that was played by Julian Dennison in Paper Planes) and attempts by local cop Barry (Dan Wyllie) to woo Christie. A terrific collection of tunes, old and new, help bolster audience engagement, while the crowd-pleasing ending that you know is coming before you even take your seat hits all the right notes.

I STILL SEE YOU

Stars: Bella Thorne, Richard Harmon, Louis Herthum, Dermot Mulroney, Amy Price-Francis, Hugh Dillon, Shaun Benson, Dave Brown, Sara Thompson and Thomas Elms.
Writers: Jason Fuchs; based on the novel ‘Break My Heart 1,000 Times’ by Daniel Waters.
Director: Scott Speers

Rating:★★★

There are still faint signs of life in the YA-adaption genre if the ironically titled I Still See You is any indication. Set in the wake of an ill-defined 'energy-pulse' disaster called ‘The Event’ that has left ghostly locals on every street corner, director Scott Speer’s reworking of the bestseller ‘Break My Heart 1,000 Times’ by Daniel Waters hits most of the creepy atmosphere, twisty mystery and teen romantic beats required to hold the target audience’s attention long enough – not always easy to do in the PG-rated supernatural-thriller game.

Continuing her ascent from Disney TV fame to big screen stardom, Bella Thorne (pictured, top) convinces as moody heroine Veronica, whose life starts to transform when visions of people past start to encroach on her real world. Known to the survivors as ‘Remnants’, the ethereal figures appear solid but soon drift away after re-experiencing their pre-ordained ‘loop’ – an echo of the final moments of their lives before ‘the incident’ doomed them.

Ronnie is visited in the shower by a hunky remnant we learn to be Brian (Thomas Elms), who leaves the word ‘RUN’ on her steamed-up mirror (both Thorne and Elms are captured by Speer's slightly leery lens in all their physical perfection). Engaging with equally moody, remnant-obsessed new student Kirk (Richard Harmon) to help her solve the mystery of the new vision in her life, secrets and lies begin to fold in on themselves in a narrative involving a series of unsolved murders that becomes increasingly convoluted. Along for the ride is Dermot Mulroney (pictured, below), bringing the credibility and integrity required of his paycheck presence as the teacher with his own secret, Mr Bitner.

The film is a polished visual spectacle given its snowbound middle-class suburban setting, with credit going to DOP Simon Dennis (The Sweeney, 2012; The Girl With All The Gifts, 2016) and his lighting team. Highlights include a visit to the disaster’s ‘ground zero’, which positively teems with remnants wandering the big city ghost town landscape; a series of spectral visits that haunt Ronnie during a high-school basketball game; and, a black-light bathroom sequence that unleashes the first of the films effectively staged jump-scares.

None of it will seem fresh to anyone over 20; revisit M. Night Shyamalan’s The Sixth Sense, obviously, and also Robert Zemeckis’ 2000 mystery What Lies Beneath for a big-budget studio spin on similar terrain. But the presence of the very appealing (and slightly too old for the part) Thorne, a bevy of chills that don’t rely on gore and a sentimental thematic thread that takes in paternal bonds and the power of memory, and I Still See You is an ideal early foray into the horror genre for the modern teenage girl and her slumber party pals.

FIRST LIGHT

Stars: Stefanie Scott, Théodore Pellerin, Saïd Taghmaoui, Percy Hynes White, Jahmil French, James Wotherspoon and Kate Burton.
Writer/director: Jason Stone.

Reviewed at Monster Fest 2018 at Melbourne’s Cinema Nova on November 23.

WINNER: Best International Film, Monster Fest 2018

Rating: ★★★★

Millennial types that stare blank-faced and shrug when you mention the great films of 1970s Hollywood make a grab at one the decade’s best with First Light. In Jason Stone’s low-key, highly charged UFO drama, an alien encounter imbues an everyday suburbanite with an inexplicable connection to lights in the sky. Whether you know it or not, kids, you’ve now got your own generation’s Close Encounters of The Third Kind.

Steven Spielberg’s 1977 sci-fi classic featured a thirty-something Richard Dreyfuss as a contactee strangely obsessed with visions of a distant mountain. ‘Thirty-something’ protagonists are way too old for the modern movie audience (unless they are comic-book hero alter-egos), so a savvy Stone has recast his lead as high-schooler Alex (Stefanie Scott). Also, ‘strange obsessions’ are hard to conjure, even for the modern effects wiz; having survived a near drowning via the visitation of glowing orb entities, Alex doubles-down on that distant yearning with telekinetic powers (good, especially when called upon flip ex-boyfriend’s cars) and high-radiation levels (bad, especially for…well, everybody).

Along for the ride is Sean (Théodore Pellerin), the audience conduit whose doe-eyed, unshakeable commitment to Alex provides the emotional core of Stone’s narrative. Scenes of the young man’s home life establish him as a teen of integrity and character; parent-less, he hangs with his smart-mouth, street-wise younger brother Oscar (a scene-stealing Percy Hynes White) and cares for his near-catatonic grandmother, whose arc is small but provides one of the year’s great movie moments.

Sean yearns for the closeness he shared with Alex once before, a wish that is granted after her near-death encounter, the bubbly teen queen now a sullen, silent introvert, clearly not herself. The pair are drawn into a chase drama enabled by rogue UFO chaser Cal (Said Taghmaoui) and driven by Federal agency head Kate (Kate Burton), their open road odyssey affording the actors space to build a warm, sincere chemistry. It also allows a further ironic nod to old-school Hollywood - Sean compares their plight to Bonnie and Clyde, to which Alex replies, “I don’t know who that is.” 

Stone opens on some thrill-inducing images of the orbs illuminating the early evening sky, before settling into a long passage of character definition and tension building - another common trait it shares with CE3K. If Stones skimps on the grand effects sequences that made Spielberg’s work so memorable, Stone doesn’t let us forget that his characters are always being watched. His expert use of drone footage to capture the ‘God’s eye’ perspective, or more precisely that of the inhabitants of the orbs, represents some of the most effective creative use of the technology yet.

In working through Spielberg’s familiar story beats, First Light plays like an American-indie-meets-X-Files spin on Romeo & Juliet; there are also some unmissable nods to John Carpenter’s Starman and Douglas Trumbull’s Brainstorm (two more ‘oldies’ the target audience won’t know), as well the inevitable and not unfounded YA comparisons that pitch it as, though remarkably better than, the Twilight series.

Also like Spielberg’s film, momentum drags a little in its third act when the G-men and their tech take over the film. It’s a minor period of disconnect in a film that mostly feels gritty, human and real, despite its otherworldly premise. First Light builds to a soaring denouement (pumped by some demographic-appropriate musical accompaniment from M83’s ‘Outro’) that reassures the audience that, in this world or beyond, we are not alone.

TRUTH OR DARE

Stars: Lucy Hale, Tyler Posey, Violett Beane, Sophia Ali, Landon Liboiron, Nolan Gerard Funk, Sam Lerner, Brady Smith, Hayden Szeto, Morgan Lindholm, Aurora Perrineau and Tom Choi.
Writer: Jillian Jacobs, Michael Reisz, Christopher Roach and Jeff Wadlow
Director: Jeff Wadlow.

Rating: 2/5

A far more more ambitious narrative and punchy directorial approach was needed to carry off the high-concept horror tropes of the deadly dull thriller Truth or Dare, a college-kids-vs-malevolent-curse bore that clearly wants to be this generation’s Final Destination (or, at least, the better episodes of that hit-miss 00’s franchise).

Directed with professional indifference by journeyman Jeff Wadlow (Cry Wolf, 2005; Kick-Ass 2, 2013), Truth or Dare posits the notion, ‘What if the titular children’s game had real stakes?’, a potentially interesting premise that is then left in the hands of an insipid posse of one-dimensional characters to mull over.

The first half-hour of the film is Teen Horror 101; a group of demographically pleasing early 20-somethings (the do-gooder; the troubled party-girl; the hunky nice-guy; the jerk; the gay guy; the creep) head for a spring break in Mexico. Just how uninteresting are these kids? A boozy night at a beach dance party leads not to wildly unbridled hedonism, but instead a game of ‘truth or dare’, led by a handsome stranger who has latched on to the group.

After a moment of ‘what-just-happened?’ oddness, the group have resumed their well-off middle-class lives in College Town, USA. Our heroine, Olivia (an ok Lucy Hale, perkiness personified) begins to note the phrase ‘Truth or Dare’ everywhere she looks, until she responds in an embarrassingly public way, outing her friend Markie (Violett Beane) for being unfaithful to Lucas (Tyler Posey).

In the order in which they played the game in Mexico, each of the friends must face the challenge put to them by a temporarily possessed passer-by or acquaintance, whose wide-eyed, broadly grinning appearance resembles little more than that which can be accomplished by about a thousand different in-phone apps nowadays. Soon, it becomes clear that to defy the question means a painful death with the inevitability of everyone’s demise all but assured. Not that anyone’s passing seems to have any consequence at all on their friends or the community in which they live; nobody reacts with long-term grief or crippling shock at the string of deaths, even when video of one icky demise does the social media rounds.

The undoing of Truth or Dare as with many looked-good-on-paper concepts, is that it ultimately strays from its own logic and careens into preposterousness. Initially, Olivia gets three shots over the course of a day to answer the question, while other’s meet there doom within minutes; ‘the curse’ controls what you see and hear (even dabbling in street art to get its message across), yet at one point our heroine bounces between a dealing with the demon and chatting with her friends.

Wadlow kicks off Act 3 with an interminable scene involving a tongue-less ex-nun (don’t ask) and a bucketload of explanatory exposition that shuts down the story’s already meagre momentum. The ending, an underlit and shoddy sequence set in a dusty old Mexican convent, looks low-rent; the twist in the final reel proves to be both no twist at all and utterly indecipherable.

A propensity for characters to incessantly text and check Facebook may play believably with phone-gazing teens, but the device only serves to undercut the scares; ultimately, there are none. An adherence to PG-horror boundaries further hogties the chills, meaning the best that can be said for Truth or Dare is that the concept may transition into a passable SyFy/CW slot-filler. The only ones who convincingly suffer through a cursed existence are the paying audience members.

DANCE ACADEMY

Stars: Xenia Goodwin, Jordan Rodrigues, Thomas Lacey, Alicia Banit, Dena Kaplan, Keiynan Lonsdale, Nic Westaway, Tara Morce, Julia Blake and Miranda Otto.
Writer: Samantha Strauss
Director: Jeffery Walker.

Rating: 4/5

Balancing the expectations of small-screen fans and bigscreen newcomers as deftly as a well-executed arabesque, Dance Academy lovingly follows the cherub-faced teens of Australia’s internationally popular TV series (2010-2013) as they rite-of-passage into the realities of reconciling artistic dreams with the onset of young adulthood. Destined to be a slumber-party staple for years to come, the combination of an engaging young cast, moving and understated melodrama and sensationally staged dance sequences make for a commercially potent package.

In the 18 months since the class graduated from National Academy of Dance, fortunes have varied for the key characters. Tara (a terrific Xenia Goodwin) has struggled to recover physically and mentally from a crippling back injury; her bf Christian (Jordan Rodrigues) has channelled his passion into the next generation of dancers, tutoring a harbourside dance class; Abigail (Dena Kaplan) is determinedly sticking to her dreams of dancing lead for the National Ballet Company under ice-queen Madeline Moncure (Miranda Otto, playing to the back row as the film’s closest thing to a villain); and, bombshell Kat (Alicia Banit) has found stardom in the US.

Having knocked back a million dollar payout for her injuries, Tara gambles on her dream and heads to New York where she reconnects with Kat and fallen teen idol Ollie (Keiynan Lonsdale), whose been reduced to the same round of thankless chorus auditions as Tara must endure. It takes the reappearance of series’ favourite Ben (Thomas Lacey), whose own plight puts all other concerns in perspective and refocusses the chemistry and dynamic of the group, to help Tara redefine her goals and ambitions. Oz acting greats Julia Blake and, fittingly, Tara Morice, star of the iconic 1992 dance pic Strictly Ballroom, impact in support roles.

In the hands of alumni helmer Jeffery Walker (director of 8 episodes) and writer and co-creator Samantha Strauss (scribe of 23), this exercise in brand upsizing avoids any notion of ‘cynical cash-in’ by affectionately crafting warmly relatable characters and a (mostly) believable narrative. Australian cinema has a chequered past with TV-to-film reworkings. Michael Carson’s Police Rescue (1994) embraced the larger canvas, resulting in a pleasing if low-key actioner and the late Steve Irwin’s daft family adventure The Crocodile Hunter: Collision Course (2002) was pleasing enough, but more often adaptations resemble stitched-together episodes (Number 96, 1974) or, worse yet, risible misfires that kill off any lingering goodwill (Kath and Kimderella, 2012).

While maintaining the heart that helped make it a small-screen hit, Dance Academy looks every bit the sumptuous bigscreen drama. The film is rich in tech assets, with the dance-friendly widescreen cinematography of 47-episode veteran Martin McGrath (Proof, 1991; Muriel’s Wedding, 1994; Swimming Upstream, 2003), original score by Oscar-nominated David Hirschfelder (Shine, 1996; Elizabeth, 1998) and the precise editing of Nikola Krulj and Geoffrey Lamb all strengthening the legitimate franchise potential. It is a clearly achievable goal, with every frame exhibiting the same crowd-pleasing qualities as profitable properties Pitch Perfect and Step Up.

THE EDGE OF SEVENTEEN

Stars: Hailee Steinfeld, Haley Ly Richardson, Blake Jenner, Woody Harrelson, Kyra Sedgwick, Hayden Szeto and Alexander Calvert.
Writer/director: Kelly Fremon Craig.

Rating: 4.5/5

The beautiful words and deceptively complex humans are entirely the creation of writer/director Kelly Fremon Craig, but it is undeniable that her remarkable debut feature The Edge of Seventeen has clearly been afforded the wise, guiding hand of producer, James L. Brooks.

On the rare occasion that contemporary mainstream cinema offers up smart, cool teen protagonists such as Hailee Steinfeld’s Nadine Franklin, they are immediately aligned with the 80’s oeuvre of the late John Hughes, specifically Pretty in Pink and Sixteen Candles. But Nadine’s determination to inflict her defining personality traits upon those with whom she shares this world – general teen angst, profoundly ingrained grief and a fear of loss that manifests as caustic wit and social solitude – more accurately resembles the dark psyches of Brooks’ great anti-heroes, notably Jack Nicholson’s Melvin Udall in As Good As It Gets and Shirley MacLaines’ Aurora Greenway in Terms of Endearment.

Fremon Craig sets that bittersweet tone from Scene 1; Nadine is in a heightened panic, unloading upon Woody Harrelson’s cool teach Mr Bruner some well-considered suicide options. Defying all the clichés of the flashback device, a wonderful montage establishes Nadine’s long-held outsider status and the importance of her soul mate friend, Krista (Ava Grace Cooper as a tot; a terrific Haley Lu Richardson through the awkward years). After tragedy reshapes the start of her train-wreck teen years, the dynamic she shares with her slowly unravelling mom, Mona (Kyra Sedgwick) and stoic, beau-hunk brother, Darian (Blake Jenner) takes on a quite desperation, interspersed with high tension.

The 80s high school vibe is dragged kicking and screaming into the present-day when Nadine’s lustful fascination with brooding senior Nick (Alexander Calvert) is conveyed via an accidental tweet, leading to a tense night-time car park encounter. Fremon Craig and her leading lady subvert both the dramatic and comedic potential inherent in this achingly portrayed sequence; it is a razor-sharp piece of character development that foreshadows a revelatory cathartic Act 3. It is also a reminder that the edge of seventeen is a complex, often dangerous time when girls are faced with navigating their own path into young womanhood.

The Academy’s respect for the younger audience will be reflected in their willingness to reward Hailee Steinfeld with an Oscar nomination. James L Brooks guides his leading ladies to podium glory (three Best Actress trophies, to MacLaine, Holly Hunter for Broadcast News and Helen Hunt for As Good As It Gets), but ‘teen pics’ do not always survive award season vetting. Recent nominees who were under 20 include Quvenzhane Wallis (Beast of The Southern Wild, 2012), Gabourey Sidobe (Precious, 2009), Carey Mulligan (An Education, 2009) and Keisha Castle-Hughes (Whale Rider, 2003), all featuring in films that carried Oscar-friendly thematic add-ons. The only comparable films to find Oscar’s favour have been Juno (for which Ellen Page earned a 2007 nomination) and 1999’s Election (for which Reese Witherspoon did not; the film made the Best Screenplay shortlist).

Steinfeld must be a front-runner for a role that careens between brittle toughness, wordy bravado and heartbreaking sweetness. Also in contention must be Fremon Craig’s script, which plays to the teen audience with recognisable moments of anguish and glee (the romance subplot involving Hayden Szeto’s American/Korean student feels both fresh and warmly familiar) while exploring some very adult emotions; as with the best of the genre, it is a film about teenagers but not just for teenagers.

The teen movie beats ring true because Nadine inspires a faith that fate will cut her a break, despite her best efforts to derail destiny. We shouldn’t cheer, even care, for her, but all her flaws and idiosyncrasies are all ours, too; we adore her because we recognise her struggle. Every generation has a teen character that personifies the real and unreal of those horrible, wonderful years and whose struggles still resonate; Benjamin Braddock, Joel Goodsen, Lloyd Dobler, Cher Horowitz, Tracy Flick. For this generation (and many more to come), there is Nadine Franklin in The Edge of Seventeen, a coming of age journey as good as it gets.