A feminist spin on the Outback nightmare of cult favourite Wake in Fright, Kitty Green’s thriller was inspired by the 2016 documentary Hotel Coolgardie, in which two Finnish backpackers endured boorish customers after finding work in a Western Australian mining-town pub.
The “authentic” Ozzie experience proves just as bruising for Hanna (Julia Garner, who gamely carries the film) and Liv (Glass Onion’s Jessica Henwick), two-spirited backpackers who travel to a remote mining community for bar work, only to be greeted by Billy (Weaving), the snarling, drunken boss, as “smart “c***s”.
It’s all downhill from there.
Regulars run the gamut from the rapey vibes of Teeth (James Frecheville) to the downright psychotic menace of Dolly (Daniel Henshall). Local nice guy Matty (Toby Wallace), the least disgusting boozer among the clientele, takes the new girls swimming at a local waterfall. And soon enough, the nice guy turns out to be not so nice.
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There are moments when sense prevails, mostly due to interventions from Billy’s long-suffering wife, Carol (Ursula Yovich). There are moments, too, of levity, including the arrival of Hanna’s former holiday fling (Herbert Nordrum from The Worst Person in the World).
Mostly, however, this is a tense watch. Liv, the dumber of the duo, puts herself in increasingly dangerous situations, while Hanna, ever weary, is consistently chastised for not smiling at the leering mob she serves.
Director and co-writer Green came to prominence with her daring 2017 documentary Casting JonBenét. Here, she successfully reunites with Garner, who headed up the filmmaker’s biting post-Weinstein drama, The Assistant.
The sustained twitchy energy of the script amplifies the jangling nerves of Hanna’s fight-or-flight dilemma. But Liv’s weak-mindedness can feel implausible and the grandstanding denouement feels jarring and unearned.
