"Everything I've done up to the point of making Last Ride felt like it was a rehearsal", says Australian director Glendyn Ivin. If that's the case, it's been one hell of a rehearsal.

Ivin's short film Cracker Bag, which softly spoke of a young girl's excitement leading up to a fireworks night, was awarded the highest honour at the 2003 Cannes Film Festival. It then went on to win Best Film and Best Screenplay in the short film category at the Australian Film Institute awards. Not a bad effort for your first short film.

If Cracker Bag was Ivin's matinee, then Last Ride is his grand opening. Adapted from Denise Young's novel, Last Ride is a brooding drama that explores the complex relationship between an abusive father and his ten year old son who are on the run in the  harsh Australian outback. Starring Hugo Weaving and newcomer Tom Russell, Ivin's debut feature provides a deeply genuine character study of a man who, despite loving his son, is not fit to be a father.

With both Glendyn Ivin and Tom Russell recently in town promoting Last Ride, I had a chance to talk with the two about whether their respective backgrounds helped prepare them for their first feature film, what it was like working alongside the likes of Hugo Weaving and the fear and excitment of releasing their first feature film.

 

If Seth Rogen is dominating Hollywood screens as America’s everyman, Virginie Ledoyen could certainly be considered the French equivalent. Seen by Australian audiences in 2009 in A Pain in the Ass and in the upcoming My Friends, My Loves, Ledoyen is strengthening the symbolic modern French female with her roles - strong yet fragile. French films are often best at explaining that our desires drive us to act selfish and crazy but the need to live honestly justifies those choices. Whether you morally agree is up to you, but the understanding of how the simplest thing can spiral out of control is the basis of Ledoyen’s venture in Un baiser s'il vous plaît (Shall We Kiss?).

 

If you thought seeing British comedian Sacha Baron Cohen wrestling a fat naked man in 2006's Borat was shocking, you ain't seen nothing yet. Cohen's latest character Bruno, a flamboyant Austrian 'fashionista', manages to make Harvey Milk look like a giant prude in comparison. In fact, Bruno's quest to become the most famous Austrian star "since Hitler"  is shocking, vulgar and shamelessly defamatory. It's also downright hilarious.

But who'd expect anything less from the man who brilliantly characterised Borat, a Kazak reporter whose ignorance and intolerance was matched only by the American public mocked in his faux documentary, Borat: Cultural Learnings of America for Make Benefit Glorious Nation of Kazakhstan. When the film went on to make a box-office return as sizable as its title, it was only a matter of time until the next character from Cohen's British TV series, Da Ali-G Show, was given the cinematic treatment. Four years later, Cohen is back serving  up monstrous laughs in a far more outrageous, yet decidedly more calculated film.

 

In Last Ride, Hugo Weaving won't be seen dodging bullets in slow motion or transforming into a giant killer robot. Instead, he can be seen as the very flawed, very human ex-con Kev, on the run in the Australian outback with his ten year-old son Chook.

Steering clear of the melodrama that is usually served with the fugitive premise, director Glendyn Ivin ominous debut provides a deep character study of a jaded man not fit to be a father. Whilst the minimalistic plot could have benefited from a few more thrills, Last Ride still delivers on the promise Ivin exemplified in his short film Cracker Bag, which went on to win the Palme d'Or at Cannes in 2003.

 

The protagonist is confused about love. His kooky but good-hearted friends dish out uncertain advice to him, usually mirroring their own love-related issues. They smoke, have sex and enjoy the simple things in life. If this formula sounds familiar then you can likely guess what I’m getting at… these are the elements of a quintessential French film, centering on romance and kinship. My Friends, My Loves (Mes amis, mes amours) goes about the task in a comedic way and initially suggests that love is all you need – from your best friend.

 

The slogan accompanying the Ice Age Dawn of the Dinosaurs poster wittily promises you'll "Laugh your ice off".  Whilst the kids in the audience might  shed a few icicles, this 3D threequel contains too few laughs and too many clichés to defrost anyone else. If only Blue Sky studios were capable of writing a screenplay that matches the quality of their animation, which is particularly dazzling this time round thanks to the introduction of a more luscious jungle palate. But aside from the reliably fantastic acorn-loving squirrel Scrat and the introduction of Simon Pegg's delightfully nutty weasel Buck, there's not much else for audiences over the age of 10 to warm to during this third, and hopefully final, Ice Age.