Cinema surveillance images are loading at the bottom of the page

River Street

Threat advisory: High - High risk of entertaining activities

Movie propaganda

"We're all faced with choices we find hard to make. I wanted to tell the story of a man ruled by his head who chose to follow his heart." Tony Mahood, director.

Ben (Aden Young) is an ambitious young real estate agent. A smooth talker, an operator, a winner. He's engaged to the boss's daughter, Sharon (Tammy Macintosh). And his boss Vincent (Bill Hunter), has just offered him the deal of a lifetime. A 50% share in a river front luxury housing development. All Ben has to do is attend the land auction on Vincent's behalf.

What a difference one day can make. A series of mishaps lands Ben in the police lock-up, he misses the auction, blows the deal and ends up sentenced to 100 hours' community service at the River Street Drop-in Centre run by Wendy (Essie Davis). Resentment gives way to a glimmer of opportunity when Ben realises the centre land runs down to the river. He has a chance of recovering the deal if he can acquire this property for Vincent's development plans...

Intelligence analyst

Special Agent Matti

Theatrical report

Melbourne, which is something of a step backward for a start. And I have been to Melbourne, so I know what it's like. Why do you think I live in Sydney?

Anyway, this film is based around Ben's educated, white, upwardly mobile moral dilemma, which is how to make more money (I can relate to that.) The problem is that he is a real estate agent and can't really be seen to have any morals in the first place. But somehow, perhaps because of his lowly beginnings, he discovers some innate goodness that can be found in all true Americans (sorry, Australians) and realises the error of his ways. Sound familiar?

So as the story is nothing much, the actors aren't required to do a helluva lot. Aden is cute and manly both at the same time, but never quite as convincing as a bastard as he is as one of the redeemed. Bill is Bill. Tammy and Essie do their thing. Lois Ramsey (Mavis Bramston - Prisoner) totters wonderfully precariously on the brink of senility. But 19-year-old Sullivan Stapleton and 12ish Murat Girgin as drop-in kids Chris and Ahmed are the ones to watch: the former for his innocence and intensity, the latter for his pre-pubescent bastardy.

River Street was all a bit white-bread for me, especially coming just two days after I saw Twin town. It's a nice enough movie, but well, if I am using nice to describe a film, it's not necessarily a recommendation. River Street does what it set out to do, and you can see it if you want, but I would be more inclined to wait and watch it on video.

(After attending the première I have a special note for the fashion conscious: brown is not the new black, black is the new black.)

Security censorship classification

Not for public release in Australia before date

Out now