TEENAGE KICKS
Australia, 2016, 98 minutes, Colour.
Miles Szanto, Daniel Webber, Anni Finsterer, Shari Sebbens, Charlotte Best, Lech Mackiewicz, Nadim Kobeisse, Tony Poli, Ian Roberts.
Directed by Craig Boreham.
Teenage Kicks seems too slight a title for this rather serious film. It is based on a previous 20 minute short film, called Drowning, by Craig Boreham, writer and director.
The setting is the eastern suburbs of Sydney. The focus is on a teenager, Miklos, played by Miles Szanto (who played the same character in the short film). He has a complex background, European migrants, his mother who is working, his father who owns a hardware store in collaboration with the father’s brother. There is further complication because of the relationship of the boy’s mother with her brother-in-law – the young boy’s father.
There are typical enough problems, with Mik and his friend, Dan (Daniel Webber taking over from Xavier Samuel from the short film). There is a sex preoccupation, indications that Mik might be homosexual. Dan as Mik’s best friend, they spend time together, horse around, Dan having a girlfriend. Mik becomes the occasion for his older brother’s accidental death and is grief stricken as well is guilt-stricken. This affects his behaviour, harshness from his mother, father and uncle, his going to his brother’s pregnant girlfriend who does receive him well.
There are some drug issues as well as family issues. Mick also goes to see the pregnant girlfriend, as well as an encounter with Dan’s girlfriend, goes to a club where gay men are filmed online, encountering a young woman there who is into heroin. He also encounters a young man in the park and has a sexual experience.
Eventually, things become too much for him. He over drinks, Dan helping him, Dan revolted by Mik’s attention to him and, almost unbelievably, takes it out on Mik by raping him.
So, the episodes in the film are far more than teenage kicks.
1. The title and its tone?
2. The Sydney suburbs, homes, shops, clubs, the beach? The musical score?
3. The portrait of Miklos? His age, going to school, his mother and her work, his father and uncle and the hardware store? His brother? His friendship with Dan? Life at home, with Dan and watching the pornography, Dna’s father and his reactions? The plan is to go away, getting the money? Mik and his brother, watching him, the brother upset, on his bike, Mik following him in the car, the crash, his brother’s death? Issues of blame, family reactions, the mother, the father, the uncle, Mik and his guilt? His brother’s girlfriend and her pregnancy, Mik wanting to help her, going to live with her, the sexual encounter, offering to be with her? Dan and his girlfriends, Mik observing, his own sexual orientation, the homosexual indications? His going to the club, the group, sexual activity, online? His leaving? His looks at Dan? His going to the shop, incompetent in giving advice? At school, the boy talking, Mik and his bashing him? The interview with the principal? Ousted? Going to the club, at the park, the young man reading, the sexual behaviour? Later meeting him at the hospital? His meeting with Phaedra, her asking him about sexuality, inviting him to sexual activity? His father having a stroke? Talking with his mother, the hospital, her softening attitude? His drinking, his dreams, Dan helping him, in the shower, Mik and his approach, Dan’s reaction, the rape, Mik running away? Going to the house, meeting Dan, offering the money, Dan leaving?
4. Mik and his mother, her work, the background of her life, her marriage, relationship with her brother-in-law, Mik’s birth, her attitude towards him, seeming judgemental? His relationship to his father and his uncle? Their disdain?
5. Dan, ordinary, friendship, horseplay, the relationship with Phaedra, his friendship with Mik, helping him after his being drunk, the rape? His leaving?
6. The various girls, the pregnant girlfriend, genial? Phaedra and her relationship with Dan? The sexual activity? The girl and the drug house, the heroine?
7. Mik, his age, the crisis, coping or not, the pressures on him – a future?
