This is an uncommonly original new Australian film. Five teenage friends gather at a rural house to celebrate the end of the school week. The parents are away so the youngsters drink, flirt, play games and talk about their lives and futures. Eventually things turn darker when alcohol warps their judgment.
Despite the booze, tentative couplings and rustic setting, this story is never crass. The teens here are exploring ideas of ambition, independence, unfairness and philosophy, reflecting on their experiences and their hopes. It's often tense with the introduction of a gun in early scenes, and youthful romance is shown to have the uncertainty and dangers that we all know.
First time writer / directors Harley Hefford and Evan J Martin are consciously putting forward Australian experiences into the coming-of-age genre that is so dominated by films from the US in our culture. About An Age is telling it like it really is in unsensational and honest ways through a polished script. About the supposed best time of your life, which is really the worst for most.
The actors are a gifted young bunch with evenly fine performances from all of them in close ensemble; Daniel Cockburn, Rachel Lee, Eddie Orton are novices while Keith Purcell and Ashley Stocco have some experience. Fredricka Arthur as Laura, a latecomer to the party, is another newcomer who dazzles. They are all names we will look forward to hearing more from.
About An Age is all the better for being a modest production, and the fine result, beautifully filmed by Thom Neal, will nudge and niggle at our nostalgia, ringing true to teenage lives everywhere and every when.
