Director Nick Matthews' debut feature is an incoherent mess of a film. This is sad for a first time director because you want to make a splash with your first film, but if this is the best he can do it's all downhill from here. Matthews tries to take on the subject of cults in rural Australia but ends up missing the mark by a long shot.
Travis (Mark Leonard Winter) is a hospital psychologist whose world is coming about after the suicide of one of his patients, Rachel (Katy Cheel). What makes her death particularly hard for Travis is that he was having an unorthodox sexual relationship with her. One day on the train, he is approached by Grace (Tilda Cobhem-Hervey) who belongs to a cult and she offers him a way out of his pain. Without too many options, Travis ends up joining the cult, led by the charismatic Father Jay (Steve Le Marquand), only to find not everything is what it seems.
Except that we never find out that anything bad is at play. The poor writing of this film leaves you confused about what is going on. There is no explicit explanation about what Father Jay really wants from his followers, although we do see him having sex with one of the young men in the cult, but that does not mean that he has nefarious designs on anyone else. The film's plot elements, especially early on, play out like a delirious fever dream, leaving the audience confused. There is no ultimate goal to any of the action and only the loosest of threads connect each scene to the one after it.
The characters are also extremely poorly written. I felt no sympathy for any of them, especially Travis, who is supposed to be the emotional centre. The character of Grace may have been intended as a glimmer of hope, but ends up fading into the background. Father Jay is given the most backstory, but no motivation over the course of the story. I only felt any emotion toward the character of Tom (played by co-writer Craig Behenna), Father Jay's second-in-command and that was just because he seemed like a nice enough guy or maybe because he was played by the person who wrote the film and therefore he'd know where that character is coming from.
Nick Matthews background as a cinematographer has definitely given this film a specific look, but that sometimes just adds to the confusion. The entire first thirty minutes is comprised almost completely of close ups and is quite disconcerting. I'm guessing that a large chunk of the budget also went to the aerial shots and while these are stunning, that money could have been better spent elsewhere.
A disappointing and lacklustre debut that will leave everyone confounded to the point of the whole endeavour. Matthews aims to make a film that is somewhere between the films Red State and The Master, but fails spectacularly.
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