Garage Days
Directed by Alex Proyas.
Can rock ’n’ roll dreams come true?
I guess if this is the first time you are reading about Garage Days you’ve been under a rock somewhere (or writing essays?). Garage Days is the long awaited new film by director Alex Proyas, director of the dark and moody films The Crow and Dark City. Surprisingly, Garage Days is not dark and moody (I’ve just remembered, we highbrow reviewers usually call this film noir!) but still contains the artistic flair of Alex Proyas’ visual style.
The story follows a young Sydney band’s struggle to get gigs as more and more pubs become pokie palaces. Through a bit of luck Freddie, the lead singer, played by Kick Gurry (Looking for Alibrandi) bumps into the rock ’n’ roll manager of every band’s dreams. This meeting gives them an inkling of a chance at the big break they’ve been looking for — and perhaps a gig at Home Bake.
This is the background to the film, but to do it any real justice I’d have to include some spoilers. Let’s just say, there are themes of family, friendship, love, betrayal, and depression, nicely woven into this film, along with a good dose of hallucinatory drugs.
Visually, Proyas begins the film with a whole lot of fast cuts that introduce the roller coaster ride that we are in for. He uses a number of visually interesting camera techniques (a la The Matrix) such as pausing on a character and then swinging us around so that we can view the character from a different angle, frozen in pose, and then back again. Mercifully, he does not subject us to the frenetically fast cuts that marred Dark City.
The music in Garage Days is an eclectic mix of mostly, but not restricted to, punk, pop, new wave and rock. The Specials, The Cure and George are the ones that have stuck with me, but all the music is well placed and adds to the texture of the film.
But, saving the best till last, this film is hilarious. Right from the opening scene where Pia Miranda and Kick Gurry have sex — a kind of post Looking for Alibrandi relief in a way, to the final scene where we look back nostalgically over the band’s garage days, you will be laughing your ass off.
ESther
