THE JAMMED
Director: Dee McLachlan Stars: Saskia Burmeister, Emma Lung, Veronica Sywak, Sun Park, Andrew S Gilbert, Alison Whyte
Reviewed by WENDY RAWADY
The questions on everyone’s lips as we left the preview session of The Jammed were ‘Why only a short season?’ and ‘Why not on General Release?’ because this film is one of the best Australian films this year. And that’s saying something because, of all years, we seem to have hit the jackpot of telling real stories unflinchingly, and without too much of the old ‘and then this happened, and then that happened’ same ol’ same ol’.
Let’s look at the structure (which is not just a credit to Writer, Producer, Director, Dee McLachlan, but also to the brilliant and very experienced Anne Carter, Editor). The narrative starts with a bang. A young Eurasian girl is detained in immigration and undergoing questioning, not brutally, just in a businesslike, according to the law, manner. The story expands outwards from this room, filling in the gaps before and afterward with a neatness that is impressive. At no time does it look contrived, even though there is a pasted on character (Ashley, the brave clerk), whose accidental endeavours to help a stranded mother looking for her daughter, binds the action and characters together. This is because, for the most part, the acting is naturalistic, almost as though we have stumbled on a forgotten episode of Border Security minus the ‘talking to the reporter’ bits.
Another character in the story is the city of Melbourne which, for the first time, is actually seen as part of things. It is named, identified and shot with love and even for this alone, should garner a local audience if well promoted. Locations can enhance a picture so much (eg. Look at those films of Angelopoulos and try to imagine their banality working had they been shot in say, Noble Park – come on., be honest, without the whitewash and matching streetscapes and beaches of Greece, they’ve got nothing!!! ) and it seems that South African born Dee McLachlan has seen Melbourne with the appreciative eye of an outside and showcased the things we take for granted.
My only niggle was the slight over-acting of the ‘if you’ll excuse me’ high horse gallery owner Mrs. Glassman, played a bit too Law and Orderishly by Alison Whyte. The scenes in the gallery are the weakest in conception and a more naturalistic, laid back approach here would have had far greater impact. And I am not sure about the effectiveness of the title in putting bums on seats.
But that’s a minor complaint.
I have observed this year that our best films are in non-English languages or have a non-English component – eg. Home Song Stories (Tony Ayres), Lucky Miles (Michael James Rowland) – and that’s certainly a reflection of my neighbourhood. But at last our directors are writing unselfconsciously with this racial mix that is multi-cultural Australia, with all the difficulty that a pluralist society can bring.
The Jammed is worthy of a General Release and hopefully, the sexual content will not prevent it from being shown in schools as, while never taking a moral high horse, it shows some consequences of actions that could be useful to late teenaged kids.