LAST TRAIN TO FREO
Director: Jeremy Sims Stars: Steve LeMarquand, Tom Budge, Gigi Edgley, Glenn Hazeldine, Gillian Jones
Reviewed by GREG KING
Last Train To Freo was recently voted the most popular local film by audiences at the Melbourne International Film Festival, and it easy to see why. Anyone who has felt uncomfortable catching that last, late night train home from the city will certainly identify with the central situation of this engrossing, realistic, and intensely claustrophobic psychological thriller.
The film unfolds in real time, with the action taking place during a train ride from Midlands, an outer suburb of Perth, to Fremantle. It is the last train of the night, and the train is almost deserted because the guards are on strike. Trev (Tom Budge) and an anonymous, heavily tattooed taller man (Steve LeMarquand, from Two Hands and Kokoda, etc) are two recently released ex-cons who board the empty last carriage and shoot the breeze. A young woman (Gigi Edgley) boards the train a couple of stops along, seemingly unaware of the potentially volatile situation she has entered. The two thugs crudely vie for her attention, and the audience feels a sense of growing unease, as they are helpless to change the situation.
A couple more passengers (Glenn Hazeldine and Gillian Jones) board the train and are also subjected to the verbal harassment from the two thugs. The conversations between the five passengers take a decidedly more personal turn, and there are lots of emotional truths and revelations, and the tension slowly escalates to an almost unbearable level. And then the balance of power suddenly shifts, and the film moves into darker territory. Last Train To Freo is claustrophobic, but full of raw emotions and a palpable sense of threat, and the characters’ sense of isolation and frustration poignantly comes across. However, there seems to be one dramatic revelation too many that finally stretches credibility almost to breaking point.
The film has been beautifully adapted from Reg Cripp’s stage play, and even though all of the action takes place in one confined location – the train carriage - it successfully overcomes its stage origins. It feels like it has been shot on a moving train. Last Train To Freo marks an assured directorial debut from Jeremy Sims. Although somewhat unfairly best known for his role on the tacky pot boiler tv series Chances, Sims has forged a successful career largely working in Sydney with his own theatrical company. Many of Sims’ colleagues fill out the roles here, and their rapport and easy working relationship enhances the material. Sims and Cripp have struggled for four years to bring the stage play to the screen, and the results here are extraordinary.
The performances of the small cast are all uniformly excellent. Budge brings a touch of quirky humour to the film, even though it does little to alleviate the tension. His role here is rather familiar stuff, with echoes of characters he has played in other recent films (Australian Rules, The Proposition, etc), and it seems he is the go-to guy when local directors are looking for someone to play colourfully eccentric and irreverent characters. But it is LeMarquand who fittingly dominates the film with a truly menacing physical presence and he delivers one of the most powerful and memorable performances seen in a local film in recent times.
***1/2
Reviewed by PETER MALONE
Last Train To Freo is a surprisingly impressive film. However, potential audiences need to be warned that it is quite tough going. Playwright Reg Cribb has adapted his theatre work for the screen. However, he has retained the single set and much of the dialogue. While the film does indicate its stage origins, the editing and pace make it much more cinematic than might be expected.
Freo is the Aussie abbreviation for the coastal city of Fremantle, out from Perth. The last train goes through the suburbs of Perth, through central Perth to the coast. This particular night, the guards are on strike and there are very few passengers. The set is the single train carriage – which can feel a bit claustrophobic, but director and editor have made sure there is such a variety of shots, close-ups and medium shots so it is as if the camera is doing our focus for us as we change our glance from one character to another.
The principal characters are two former prisoners, one middle-aged with a loud mouth and tough attitude. The other is a young drug addict, emotionally dependent on the older man. They horse around, interact with banter (which is sometimes vicious) and wait for whoever comes into the carriage. Steve Le Marquand (listed as The Tall Thug) received a well-deserved nomination for Australian Film Institute Best Actor for 2006. Tom Budge is effective as the young Trevor.
The first passenger is a young woman, Lisa (Gigi Edgely) who gets the expected treatment, the taunts, the sexist remarks, the flirting, the menace. Next comes a quiet man who sits at the back and seems to be taking notes. Then an older woman arrives with suitcases. She has left her drunken husband. She stands up for Lisa, gets told off and sits and waits.
At first this is not entirely gripping and one wonders what the film is about and (besides Freo) where it is going.
Then tables turn, surprising revelations emerge and all the characters are powerfully involved in emotional, verbal and physical interactions.
The acting is exemplary. The dialogue, very salty (to use a euphemism). The revelation of character well worth the experience. Actor Jeremy Sims has done fine work in transferring this play to the screen.