Erskineville Kings

An excellent drama showing typical laconic, dry Australian humour. This is also exhibited in "Mullet". A very good study of unresolved issues between siblings, their loyalties to each other and their parents and the results of parental abuse. Mateship and machismo was dealt with realistically. There was a pervasive atmosphere of loneliness and desolation as shown in the deserted street scenes which added to the desperation of the players.

The awkwardness and tenderness shown by Marty Denniss' character in the scenes with his girlfriend were very touching.

Great performances as always by Aaron Blabey and Hugh Jackman.

Australian films seem to be going through a surge of neo-realism suburban style. THE BOYS, HEAD ON, PRAISE and now ERSKINEVILLE KINGS. How wonderful it is to see Australian filmmakers looking into their own backyard souls!

The story premise is a simple one. Barky returns to inner-city home from the bush. His journey is made to attend the funeral of his brutal father. Not only does Barky have the past to deal with but his angry brother, Wace. Together they slug it out, bringing up old demons in hope of organising some sort of stability in life. It is the confrontations that bring you on edge with the surprising powerhouse performance from Hugh Jackman as Wace. Marty Denniss brings sincerity to the character of Barky, a man with a painful past and it's the quietness that draws you to him, waiting for those emotions to explode.

The direction heightens the unfolding of the story by simply telling the tale with strong images on inner-suburb Sydney as the main focal point to the show down.

A strong emotional movie made from the hip pockets of the filmmakers.

A year later Hugh Jackman would become Wolverine, and that's that. But I only heard about this movie - a low low budget Australian production - after reading a review for Prisoners (2013) which said "not since Erskineville Kings have I seen such a powerful performance by Jackman," or something like that. So, I dug deep. Shocked it only has 500 ratings, being Jackman's third movie and the one before X-Men. Slow? Check. Low budget? Check. Boring? Nope. The acting is solid all around, and Jackman's character isn't even introduced until 30min in, by which point I felt engaged enough by the other actors to feel connected. Also, a young Joel Edgerton offered an entertaining role. So, the drama was tangible but the humor was clverly injected to keep you from sinking in the melancholy. The emotional "climax" was superbly performed by Jackman and star Marty Denniss. Not my usual kind of movie but it had respectable substance nonetheless.

A mixed bag of comedy and drama. Hugh Jackman shines and you can see his screen presence straight away. The overall tone is inconsistent, but the story never wanders of the track. The film is slow and the support characters are a little lacking.

Erskineville Kings

Avoid this one.

Erskineville is an inner suburb of Sydney near the bottom of the social scale (or at least it was in the 1970s when this movie is apparently set.) Young man returns home on father's death. To greet him are a couple of dissolute mates, a nice ex-girlfriend and a brother eaten up with bitterness after having to look after the old boy in his declining years. Mum shot through many years ago and brother is pretty bitter about that too. Young man was driven out by Dad's drunken violence and doesn't understand why the brother is so hostile. He finds out eventually, but we're past caring.

One or two good performances, especially Aaron Blabley as one of the noxious mates. The whole thing was too thin even for a short (80 minute) feature and the camera spends too much time slowly scanning the crumbling Victorian buildings of Esrkineville. Maybe it would have worked as a 30 minute piece. As it is, a dead bore.