The 2006 I.F. awards for Alice Bell's script and for lead actress Emily Barclay (In my Father's Den) already cements Suburban Mayhem's place as one of the more challenging Australian films of recent years. Ms Barclay's nod over Candy's Abbie Cornish gives credence to the power of her performance. To say that her character, 19 year old Kat is gutsy is on par with saying that the Terminator has a few strong points.Kat has balls of steel and isn't afraid to use them. Even though she is already a mother with a supportive boyfriend, she has other ideas about her suburban existence. She is out of control and anyone in her path is fair game. Her antics can make you laugh, but that's only to contain the anxiety. As highlighted in The Boys, such people do exist in suburbia; they could be living next door. In this communication driven age, we are led away from face to face contact and our fears of our neighbors are allowed to manifest. Bell plays on this beautifully.Kat has support around her, yet nothing can quell her demons. Are we products of our environment or we doomed to live according to our genetic predisposition? Paul Goldman's direction is tight, with a distinctive style and builds the tension to breaking point, though his use of music is sometimes over bearing and feels like merely a device to cover the slower scenes. By using the old plot device of showing the conclusion at the beginning, we always know where this is going, and sometimes it feels as though we're simply waiting for the film to catch up.Goldman has surrounded Barclay with a strong cast, particularly Mia Wasikowska as unfortunate participant Lilya and Michael Dorman as a frustrated romantic with more heart than sense. However it is Barclay's scenes with her father, Robert Morgan which oozes truth and holds the film together. We feel his frustration and hope that something will get through.However, its all too obvious. Kat is on a mission. This is part of her problem. She borders on the one dimensional, and yet it is to Barclay's credit that she inspires some little hope for her character where the scriptwriter seemingly had none. If only we had something to relate to in Kat, this might have lifted Suburban Mayhem from being a good Australian film, to one of the greats.And yet, you leave the cinema thinking that she and others like her might still be out there, somewhere. Be afraid? Very

A nineteen year old single mother (Emily Barclay) plots to kill her own father because she's a loser; her hope is that she'll get his house and savings. "Suburban Mayhem" could have been a good slice of exploitation, but director Paul Goldman seems ambivalent about the film's tone. Is he making an art film? Is he making a Corman film? Or a Jack Hill film like "Switchblade Sisters"? Ultimately, the film is unsatisfying because it sits on the fence. We get that our "heroine" is a loser and a grand manipulator, but we don't get much else. The film's third act is missing in action, so when the credits start to roll, I asked myself: "Is that it?" The pacing is swift and the film's look is pleasing, but the musical soundtrack is often overbearing and manages to give its non-stop montages a generic feel. Apparently based on a true story, the film lacks focus and is not as overtly fascinating as it ought to be.

The daughter who every parent whispers "I'm glad she isn't mine" is on your door step... and she hasn't left her keys. Katrina the nightmare in leather boots and retreating skirt lines is the chaotic centre of Paul Goldman's third major feature. Life crumbles around Katrina when her beloved brother commits a terrible crime. His conviction steels her own into a focus her trite existence has never known; to get him out. But Katrina's skills aren't the ones you were taught at school, at least not in the classroom. Sex is a weapon and manipulation is as reflexive as a mouse trap to Kat, bridges burning as she accelerates through a drunken haze. The ensuing tailspin tears loose the few friends she has leaving her with desperate measures to succeed.

Hmm... I am actually in this film, I went to the "premiere" screening tonight in Newcastle (after the film had already been in the can for several months now). This also coincides with the announcement for the AFI awards. It didn't surprise me that this film wasn't nominated for best picture. I know we've had some absolute stinkers of late, but honestly, this failed to live up to my expectations. I read another comment on this page saying how it was a "high-octane thrill ride". Well, honestly, this should serve as a reminder not to mix ethanol with your screenplays unless you're going to burn them.I feel for Alice Bell. I know she's been told by a lot of people that this film is brilliant, but honestly, her vision of a cat-out-of-hell Corman-esquire tyrade has been painfully dissolved by Goldman self indulgent directing. Firstly, the talking heads documentary. Why do it unless you had a lot of screen time to fill. We know what's going to happen in the end. It seems to me that if you're going to have a "high-octane thrill ride", shouldn't you at least be living in the now and the present? I mean, isn't all this just past tense. We know she makes it, we know Rusty makes it, we know someone dies. I mean, if you're going to set your structure up in such a house-of-cards way, you may as well just film it as a segment for A Current Affairs afterall.Structure is the most important in storytelling. All the flashy shots, no matter how elaborate, are meaningless if you can't justify your plot. This seems to be the problem with Australian films of late. Our funding bodies just seem to be giving our tax money to the same old people to create the same old films. Trust me, three years from now, this movie will be on some shelf in a DVD shop with a fifty cent pricetag on it.Let's making something lasting and resonant. Play with your camera's and digital floating mailbox effects with your own time. Once more, I say, decent idea, sadly subverted, poorly executed.Alice if you're reading this dear, don't let my words get you down. Please try, try again.