DRAMA; 1hr 28min
STARRING: Vince Colosimo, Luke Ford, Matthew Newton, Laura Gordon
Deconstruction: from left, Robert Rabiah and Ford
Given that reality is determined by individual perception, conflict resolution is a necessarily grey area. Angel Baby writer-director Michael Rymer’s propulsive adaptation of David Williamson’s 2000 stage drama — itself sourced from case notes — digs through the back-story of an ugly incident to peel back the personalities of those in play.
The incident, in which construction worker Wayne (Ford) rams into his boss Greg’s (Colosimo) Jaguar after being fired, looks at first like the venting of a disgruntled employee. And so it is, but when the people directly and indirectly involved sit down with a moderator (Newton), a history of workplace bullying and weakness comes to light in a screenplay that moves confidently between the showy, the private and the surprising.
Every group has a pecking order and every explosion a build up. The primary truth of this group, hammered out with naturalistic performances, is that everyone in it is either nursing resentment, wanting something they can’t have or harbouring secrets. And that includes the simple, volatile man whose rash actions have brought the tricky mixed bag together.
