Fantastic!

A lot of fun.

if their story seems completely bonkers, almost like a feverish work of fiction, you ain't heard nothing yet.

It's simply great fun, a winsome film and an occasionally over-the-top luxury fantasy that never flags.

It will not come as a surprise to hear that "Drown" is a hard movie to watch at times. What you may not anticipate is that this is not entirely due to its themes of warring homophobia and homoeroticism in the ultra-Australian, ultra-masculine context of surf-lifesaving clubs. It's not even due to the sex or nudity, which, for an R18+ movie, is surprisingly tame. It is in fact due to the movie's distracting editing and over-reliance on slow motion and steady cam. Yes, that includes the obligatory night club scene where the character goes crazy on drugs and we see him dancing in slow motion with different music playing on the soundtrack than what everyone else is dancing to. You know, to show how alienated he is? If we hadn't gotten that already.Some of the other touches work, such as flashbacks to childhood and adolescence, but these are spread on too thin. One gets the impression that "Drown" would have worked better as a short movie. It's the impressionist touches that work, but too much impressionism leaves little room for actual impressions.You can also tell this movie was based on a play, which is confirmed in the end credits, and I'm not sure that's a good thing. When you see a play you have reached a tacit agreement with the theatre directors that, yes, you can suspend disbelief that the people on stage are wherever they're pretending to be. In a film, I'm not sure it works that way. We can see much farther past where the stage would end. In "Drown", we can even see cars and people. When a scene at the beach features multiple instances of assault, sexual degradation, forced nudity and near murder, you find yourself watching the cars in the background roll by, expecting one to stop and see what's going on. Not so in a play.

Drown is set in one of the most arguably regressive "Western" societies on the planet, Australia. While it's 'parent", the UK has become the opposite extreme of being ultra-liberal to the point of intolerance for anyone with an opinion contrary to the status quo, Australia continues to lag behind in attitudes and tolerance towards homosexual men. This is evidenced in the dynamics between the two protagonists; one a gay man, Phillip and another what seems to be a type-A closeted gay man, Len. While it appears Len has some repressed sexual attraction to Phillip, the fact that Phillip is younger, better looking and ultimately better athletically causes Len to resent and eventually take out his aggressions on him. The plot eventually devolves into a story-line as old as "Billy Budd", also played out in the French film Beau Travail. Although unlike those examples, there really doesn't seem to be any logical reason for Phillip to continuously tolerate and accept the increasing abuses from Len (i.e. he is not a subordinate), other than for us to surmise Phillip is secretly a hard-core masochist. And the revelation that Len is in fact homosexual is not at all a revelation since it is alluded to throughout the film, which makes it anti-climactic. Mildly entertaining, but certainly anachronistic to any Western standards.

This is a front runner for one of the best films I've seen this year. The story is quite intense and the telling of the three main characters through non chronological order just adds more depth, suspense and intensity. I can't say enough about two dynamics that really make the film. The characters and actors have great chemistry with each other and make the story very believable. Secondly, the cinematography and film editing really are something to behold. Matt Levett plays one of the most intense characters I have seen this year with great believe- ability. But rest assured, he doesn't steal scenes from Jack Matthews or Harry Cook. All three play off each other brilliantly.

let me start by saying i went to the premiere in sydney this week and expected another run of the mill Australian film with a gay theme that interested me. i had no idea that i would be leaving with my heart in pieces and mascara running down my face. this is one of the most raw, honest and brilliant films that has graced the Australian cinema scene in years. the three standouts in this film were len (played by matt levett), meat (played by harry cook) and the beautiful cinematography (by dean francis). matts performance as the brutal repressed len does a great job and you can really sense his inner turmoil. harrys performance is stunning as well as he plays a three dimensional character that really makes you feel for him and his struggle to confront his best friend in a situation that he knows is wrong. i don't want to give too much away but just wanted to say how great it was to see such strong talent in an Australian film both in front and behind the camera. i think it will go on to do very well overseas and here in Australia. the three i mentioned above deserve some kind of award for their work. are logies for films too or is it just TV? who knows. but either way it was a great film.