MONKEY PUZZLE
Australia, 2008, 90 minutes, Colour.
Ben Geurens,Ryan Johnson, Ella Scott Lynch, Socratis Otto.
Directed by Mark forstmann.
Those who know their trees will not think that this is a mystery about chimps. The monkey puzzle of the title is a tree in the Blue Mountains outside Sydney that means a lot to the central character, Carl (Ben Geurens). It may not mean so much to the audience.
This is one of those films that seems to have been written by a very young man, about very young men and women (20 or so), whose horizons are fairly limited and whose life experience so far has not been particularly profound or even interesting. Their incidental chat tends to be of the crasser kind.
We are invited to join them in a bush walk in the Blue Mountains. They leave on Good Friday and there are some hints of meaning about Easter but, by and large, it gets limited to Easter eggs.
The men are two friends. Carl's brother has died tragically some years earlier and Dylan was his friend. However, as the trip goes on, Dylan, as they say, continues to 'mess up', losing the map and leaving the food out overnight so that it is devoured by scavenging animals. There are two young women along and an older man who needs to pick up a car after the trek.
The group explores, squabbles, worries about food. Dylan disappears. Zach is injured in a fight. Will they find the tree? Will they get out safely? Will they give more thought to the meaning of their lives? A qualified 'yes' to some of the above.
1.A thriller? A film of young adults? For young adults, about young adults?
2.The Sydney settings? The Blue Mountains, their beauty, ruggedness, the mountains themselves, the canyons, the valleys, the creeks? Atmosphere? The musical score?
3.The title, the tree, its place in Carl’s life, Darryl’s, his brother’s?
4.The structure of the film: the meeting of the characters, the encounter with Zach, the going to the Blue Mountains, the beginning of the trek, the difficulties, the injuries, the clashes, the quest for the tree? Coping with the disasters? The uncertainty of Carl at the ending?
5.The young people, twenty-year-olds, their limited horizons, lack of experience of life? Their chatter, crass, sexual innuendo? Yet the references to Durkheim and sociology?
6.Zach, his car, the accident, his having to go with the group? Being older than them?
7.The introduction to the different members of the group: Carl and his leadership, Darryl and his friendship? Pippa and her relationship with Darryl? Toni and her health problems? The discussions about relationships? Sexual experience? Darryl and his secret relationship with Pippa, Carl and his enquiries about her?
8.The trip, the explaining of the quest? Carl and his brother, Darryl and the relationship to the dead brother?
9.In the mountains, the walk, going down the cliff, the rope? Darryl leaving the map behind? His memory, Carl’s memory – their playing games to decide the direction of the waterfall?
10.The continuing of the journey, moods, meals? Toni and her vegetarianism and her strict principles?
11.The sexual relationships? The tension between Pippa and Darryl? Carl, talking, his advances, Pippa’s reactions? Succumbing to him? Toni and her watching from the sidelines?
12.The food, the animals eating it? The lack of provisions, the Easter eggs? The effect on each of them? Toni and her low blood sugar, needing the food? Her moods?
13.Darryl, his going off by himself, finding the rock steps? Getting the fish? Going back to the group? The tensions within the group?
14.Darryl going off by himself? The group not able to find him? Zach, the fight with Carl, Zach and his injuries? Their having to carry Zach? The concern about Darryl?
15.Carl finding Darryl, his injuries, his discussions with Carl about the dead brother? His being with him when he died? Speeding? Darryl unable to move? Carl leaving him – the implication of the mercy killing?
16.Carrying Zach to safety, going up the cliff, the possibilities for saving Zach? The girls? Carl sitting on the rock and the enigmatic ending?
