World in Shock - Australia produces coming-of-age drama that soars, not snores

Bang the drum. Yesterday I saw a preview of one of the strongest Australian films of the last few years.

The Black Balloon is that rare thing - a compelling Australian coming-of-age story (a genre for which I have found my tolerance levels in steep decline recently - how many
sensitive teenage stories can one nation produce before someone calls enough?).

But this film proves it ain't the genre, it's what you do with it that counts.

With a strong and largely unknown cast completed by Toni Collette and a surprisingly impressive Gemma Ward (better known as an international model), the film marks an incredibly confident debut for first-time feature writer-director Elissa Down. It deserves to be a huge hit.

But what kind of audience will it attract when Icon Films release the film sometime around March 2008? It has potential to appeal to adult audiences as well as to older teens, but getting both groups to the cinema will prove quite a challenge, I fear. Especially if it's sold as a coming-of-age story (which it only partly is - I dont want to give too much away at this early stage) .

As Sandy George observed in yesterday's The Australian, local films are struggling to attract young people (though that's true of most movies outside of a handful of Hollywood blockbusters).

Her comments came in an intriguing interview with visiting screenwriting 'guru' Stephen Cleary, who warned that the expected boom in Australian film production due to the government's new 40% rebate to producers is in danger of coming to aught.

The danger - and this has happened in other countries that have had sudden boosts in production levels - is if the percentage of funds spent on script development declines, resulting in what he diplomaticlaly calls "a drop-off in quality". Or rubbish, as we commoners might put it.

Cleary's observations on local script-writing struck a chord with Eyes Wired Open. He encountered very well-written Australian scripts but they were all basically similar. They featured strong characters, were interesting and unpredictable, but episodic portrayals of real life that drifted where they really needed a strong narrative thrust.

It's surely no coincidence that The Black Balloon's well-structured screenplay went through a script development workshop called Aurora, run by the New South Wales Film and Television Office. This, plus a talented cast and Down's strong direction, have produced a potential winner. Now spread the word.