Absolute Underdogs

I was quite surprised by the quality of this movie. As with another Australian treasure, "The Great McCarthy", I found FAST TALKING quite difficult to classify into any one particular genre. In fact, the more I dig into the surprisingly deep well of Australian cinema, the more I become convinced that this is so for most Australian film: at least in comparison to an international market where more movies than not are marketed expressly at a particular type of movie with a definite audience.

To give some indication of the narrative though, I could relate FAST TALKING as a coming-of-age film, though parts of it are definitely comedic. There is an element of poverty in the up-bringing of the protagonist, 14 year-old Steve Carson, in so far as he has a broken home-life; his mother divorced from his alcoholic father and his old brother a drug-dealer; though the overwhelming dramatic force in FAST TALKING is Steve's often light-hearted relationships with his peers and teachers at school in Sydney's western suburbs. Steve's escapades seem to lighten up the otherwise dreary atmosphere at a school where a high percentage of students are expected to graduate to nothing else after school but the dole.

Steve doesn't seem much interested in school, instead he lives for the weekends when he and his mates can hit the pubs and afterschool when he can undertake work on his motor-bike. While the narrative could be seen as inconsistent or maybe just unappealing because of its subject matter, it is NOT (I think) so erratic as to turn most people from enjoying it. I thoroughly enjoyed it.

FAST TALKING is also an all-star cast of Australian actors, albeit of varying qualities. The old dependable Bisley is there as a junkyard mechanic who takes a liking to our irreverent lead character, Julie McGregor appears briefly as his mother, as does Angelo D'Angelo the "BMX Bandit". Lucky Grills pops in as a police detective, and Antoinette Byron from "Home & Away" and "Melrose Place" has a small cameo as a cashier.

Oh, and cool Rat's Tails and Mullets, almost in pure Aussie Pub Rock style!

Director Ken Cameron, a former high school instructor, attempts here to transpose some of his teaching experiences to the screen, apparently conceptually convincing enough to garner guaranteed funding from the Australian Film Commission along with the Merchant/Ivory production team, but any points of interest that may have been persuasive to his financial angels are lost in the completed production. Set and filmed in a cheerless lower class district of Sydney, with its casting auditions held at various schools of that city for many of the younger featured players, the piece won an award at Cannes Junior, yet there is precious little to sustain viewer interest in most sequences, responsibility for this shortcoming falling upon Cameron's disjointed screenplay. The storyline follows the fundamentally aimless and anti-social activities of Steve Carson (a ferret-like Rod Zuanic), who occupies his time by selling drugs, stealing, lying, cheating, etc., for no particular reason, while providing very little of entertainment value for viewers, and even less for the high school teachers and administrators who must have dealings with him. Steve's father is an unemployed sot, his mother has left the home to be with another man, and his older brother utilizes him as a schoolyard dope dealer, plainly a dispiriting background for the youth, but as depicted one feels no sympathy for him, as his deportment appears to stem from stupidity rather than as reaction to socio/economic pressures in this erratically paced work wherein puerile incident assumes precedence above character development. Additionally, young Carson's family members, equally moronic fellow students, and school staff are seldom well-drawn, the only characters of abiding interest being Sharon (Tracey Mann), a new teacher at the high school and, in particular, "Redback" (Steve Bisley), owner of a junkyard for motorcycles, who gives Steve an opportunity to learn a trade (welding) and also to restore a wrecked motorcycle, thereby opening a way for the boy to flee from an uncivil environment. Because Cameron fails to unify his visuals with potential effects that may be felt from the script, a viewer will find it difficult to empathise with Steve, whose general behaviour fails to demonstrate knowledge of possible linkage between causes of his actions (theft, drug sales, et alia) and their consequences, with apparent altruism by Redback being the film's sole strong positive component. Bisley, a top-flight actor, gives his role some depth, but we are too often in the company here of juvenile halfwits, directionless slum based teenagers who fittingly cluster at various trash dumps. The characters actually have no place to go, nor does the episodic plot, and a viewer should care a little about those performers with whom time is shared in a film, but few will be apt to do so in this instance.

'Fast Talking' is a pretty good Aussie drama, despite a somewhat crappy, or at least unresolved ending (for me, anyway). Similar, I suppose to the 1979 American teen outlaw drama, 'Over the Edge,' 'Fast Talking' is about an elusive fifteen-year old trouble maker named Steve Carson (you probably remember actor Rod Zuanic best as Scrooloose in the third Mad Max movie). Already a pro dope dealer from a broken down family. His mom left with a cake shop owner, his dad's an unemployed stumbling drunk who tries to get rich fast by training greyhounds, and his brother uses him to push drugs at the school. Although, Steve befriends the owner of a motorcycle graveyard and one teacher who is sure to get fired for helping him out, there seems to be few meaningful options for the kid. The movie is basically all about one spot of trouble after another that Steve gets himself into, and tries to fast talk his way out of. With an outlaw, you should always expect a dramatic exit.

Its a decent drama with Zuniac doing a fantastic job as Steve. Teenagers, at least, are probably sure to enjoy it if, of course, you don't mind obscure 80s Aussie dramas (it's not a tearjerker or anything like that). It is definitely worth a go, if you can find it.

I love this movie and i was talking to my uncle who played "moose" in the film said he really enjoyed it i love this! yes i thought it was very good for an Australian film because i am critical as i have seen a lot of disappointing Australian movies (excluding a few like: "Muriel's Wedding" and "The Castle") i thought it was brilliant i really like it and it was sort of a coo to see someone who i was related to in a film. Must see this really great film i can't stress it enough a real Aussie classic. i also urge you if you want to see some more good Aussie movies i recommend "The Home Song Stories" "The Castle" "Muriel's Wedding" "Boytown" "Crackerjack" those are the Aussie films that i think are the cream of the Australian film industry.

Great Aussie cast and presumably a wonderful story and acting and stuff.