X
Boasting what is possibly the greatest box
cover art in the history of home media, the latest release from
Australian director Jon Hewitt (Acolytes) is an ambitious, gritty
and eminently hardworking drama that pulls out all the stops in an
attempt to keep viewers on the edge of their seats. And it largely
succeeds.
Also known by the rather more discursive if
not altogether accurate title X: Night of Vengeance (the
characters herein are searching for a number of things, including money,
freedom, redemption and love, but not vengeance per se) the film
revolves around high class escort Holly (Viva Bianca, Spartacus)
who plans on calling it a night - after, that is, just one more night on
the job.
On her way to a client and a brunette
working girl short after the lass originally scheduled proves unable to
attend the rendezvous, Holly espies leggy young runaway and would-be
hooker Shay (Hannah Mangan Lawrence) strolling down the street in garb
reminiscent of Julia Roberts in Pretty Woman. Ordering the taxi
to screech to a halt, the leaps out and yes, as luck would have it, the
young lady is not only an aspiring sex worker but she would be
interested in accepting $300 for taking part in a threesome.
The client, it turns out, is a coked-up
douchebag although it must be said he’s fairly generous with his drugs,
of which both lasses partake. After some raunchy dancing, noisy
cunnilingus and presumed off-screen intercourse, the
ménage
à trois
is interrupted by a drug deal which
ends badly for our beau, in that he gets shot three times in the head (‘You’re
a fucken bowling ball’ is the assassins tactless quip). It also
ends badly for the two hookers cowering in the bathroom - spotted by the
gunman they are chased through Sydney’s streets for the next several
hours. Throw in a few pimps, junkies, crooked cops and assorted
lowlifes, the majority of which would as soon punch you in the face as
look at you, and our heroines are in for a pretty rough evening.
The plot relies far too heavily on
coincidence and inexplicable decisions taken by the protagonists, and
raises myriad irksome questions throughout: Why the hell did Holly let
the gunman into her penthouse harbourside apartment? Doesn’t she have a
peephole? How did he even get in the building, a multimillion dollar
complex that presumably would’ve had a security camera and a locked
front gate? Why didn’t she think to finish him off after she clubbed
him repeatedly with her suitcase? And why did Shay leave the safety of
her King’s Cross hostel room to get a burger when she knew the killer
would likely be driving around the Cross at that moment trying to find
her? I know the answer is because the plot needed them to act that way
or else there wouldn’t be a movie, but I don’t want to be
consciously aware of that fact while supposedly immersed in the world of
make believe. I’ve seen Fringe, and The Muppets, and even
Battlefield Earth - God knows I can suspend my disbelief as much
or more than the next person. But X does test one’s patience in
this regard.
On a more positive note both Bianca and her
up-and-coming coeval Mangan Lawrence work hard for their director,
putting in convincing and confident performances and demonstrating a
level of belief in the project that helps temper the triter moments.
Also the more violent sequences (of which there are many) as well as the
determinedly unarousing sex scenes are expertly composed, and the whole
film displays a fast-moving, hyperreal visual sense that both suits and
accentuates its gritty subject matter. X may occasionally paint
itself into a corner, but much like its two heroines it doesn’t have too
much trouble finding its way out again, and as far as Aussie film fare
goes it represents one of the most interesting and ambitious outings of
the past several years.
Bonus Features
- Audio commentary
with director Jon Hewitt, writer/actress Belinda McClory & producer
Lizzette Atkins
- Behind the
scenes/Making of Featurette
- Original soundtrack
with portrait gallery
- Teaser
- Theatrical trailer
and US trailer
