Erskineville Kings

Erskineville Kings is another great Australian film. It is about the relationship between two brothers: one who escaped the pace of Sydney and an abusive father to work in the rural north and one who stayed with the father until his dying day.

Wace (Hugh Jackman), the one who stayed is extremely bitter and towards his brother for 'running away' from everything and takes it out on him on his return for the funeral. It is scripted like a play (I'm not sure if it was before it became a film) and is set mainly in a dingy inner west pub. Even though it is theatre like in delivery it works brilliantly as a film especially the cinematography which presents the rough side of the inner west almost as though it is a tribute to the area.

Erskineville Kings is gritty, tense and emotionally charged and overall compulsive viewing - 8/10

I can quite happily quote you chapter and verse when it comes to Erskineville Kings because I love this film with fierce intensity. Even though EK has an unconventional feel to it and we are asked to confront some nasty issues along the way, it touched my soul the very first time I saw it and it still has the capacity to create a heavy swell of tension in my chest with each and every viewing, despite the fact I've seen it more times now than the majority of you have had hot dinners! The fact that Hugh Jackman landed the part of Wace, the oldest of two brothers around whose strained relationship the film is centred, is the reason I became aware of EK in the first place, but Wace is a dark, brooding character who spends the majority of this film being totally unpleasant and whilst we come to learn he has his reasons for behaving this way, I for one do not relate to him easily. No, my well-spring of emotion arises from seeing and responding to the plight of the younger brother Barky (played by the screenwriter and actor Marty Denniss) whose quiet personality and passive nature make him seem like a dog that's been kicked too much but which still wags its tail in a vain attempt to please. Dogs are cute and so is Marty Denniss (he easily makes it to prime position in my top 10) and I just want to hug Barky to death whenever he's on screen and stop his humiliation and end his pain.

I can see why Hugh is particularly proud of this role though because his portrayal of Wace is amazing especially in view of the fact it was his debut feature film. It also never ceases to amaze me how people's reactions to EK vary so widely from those like me who love it with a passion to others I've come across who quite happily admit they have little or no time for it. Is that the mark of a good film or a bad one? I'll leave it to you to decide for yourselves once you've seen it because this review will tell you at a glance exactly which way my vote is cast.

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.

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.

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.