Rage in Placid Lake

In the offbeat Aussie comedy, Rage in Placid Lake, Placid Lake is in fact a person, a young man attempting to show his anarchic side. He has three youngsters on his tale who constantly beat him up and after deciding to throw himself off a building rather than be on the end of their fists again, he ends up in hospital much to the consternation of best friend Gemma (Rose Byrne) and his totally bohemian parents (Richardson plays Placid’s mum).

Placid decides to cut his locks and begin work in an insurance firm and he positively excels in a job that gives him stability but also positively applauds his creativity. Placid gets on the fast-track for key executives and gets a string of perks including sexual offers from his female compatriot who ends up on the fast-track with him. At some point though, Placid must work out what he really wants, otherwise he and best friend Gemma will end up taking divergent paths.

This is a gentle satirical comedy which like Election and Napoleon Dynamite, concentrates on the social non-conformers and is sympathetic to their aims. Some may feel it is not quite subversive enough but on the plus side, Byrne and Lee are good in the key roles and the film is very watchable as Placid himself is, merely because his eccentricity is likeable. You’ll probably need to catch it quick, it may not get wide distribution, but it is worth seeing if you do get out of your way to see it. I probably hoped to see Miranda Richardson in a livelier role than the one depicted here but it was nice to see her getting her teeth into a good film part all the same.

Matt Arnoldi