west life unravel in this potent tale of suburban boredom and violence . a i settle in to watch west and the story of two young under educated slacker get into trouble in sydney western suburb and i experience a hedonistic urge for a geographical alternative . why and for once and couldn not it be east and the story of the west boy privilege counterpart rich kid in sharp suit exchange sharp talk while get into trouble in sleek and expensive sydney . but that hasn not be the australian way . we rarely see the city moneyed class take apart on screen . our writer and director prefer to look for their story elsewhere and it have to be say that west writer director and daniel krige and be one of the most persuasive . the film opening have pete ( khan chittenden ) and his cousin and jerry ( nathan phillips ) and drink beer and smoke dope in their favourite haunt under a bridge over a stormwater canal . it not exactly a scene rich in dramatic promise and yet when it come to disarm your prejudice and krige prove an expert . west setting be where he grow up . it his turf . clearly and it fascinate and exasperate him . he also know how to hold it extreme in delicate balance and give u a place where boredom and violence come together repeatedly in the unholiest of alliance . in their bunker like retreat and pete and jerry be get in the mood for a night of party . theyre also engage in an unusually reflective conversation . jerry and strangely enough and want to talk about the future . he say he still doesn not know what he go to do with the year ahead a remark that mystify pete . he say that they will do what they do last year . they will see what happen . he doesn not believe in make plan . they do not happen . you get depress . in these few word the film lay out it theme . for jerry do make plan and they mark the beginning of his life unravelling . at the party and we follow a bleary eyed pete and who be lust after cheryl ( gillian alexy ) and a girl whose good look and sexual swagger magnetise every male she meet . predictably and he have no luck while she bypass him in favour of jerry and possibly because he not a stone and can still string a few sentence together . it not pete night . pursue his part time job a a drug dealer and he offend kenwood ( anthony hayes ) and the most loathsome member of a gang of thug and and be beat up and rob . these be the basic outline of the cousin circumscribe world . at night and it take on a spurious poetry born of noise and bustle and the shimmer of neon on slick and wet pavement . but in the flat glare of daytime and all the promise and colour be leach out of it . jerry desperately want to escape and he take what he hop will be his first step by get a regular job behind the counter of the local fast food outlet . the extent of his good intention can be see by his willingness to wear a cap decorate with chicken wing while make cluck joke at his own expense . unimpressed and pete just carry on a usual and lounge round with his drug deal bos and who lead an amiably addle half life in front of his flat screen television set . and when this routine wear thin and pete go to the bunker by the canal and sits smoking and drinking with mick ( michael dorman ) and another equally aimless twentysomething . mick be afflict with a stammer and an abiding pessimism . he also display an unnerving preoccupation with moral hypothesis . would you wear a condom if you rap a girl . he ask pete and who so shock by the question that he can not stop think about it and or it sub text represent that the vacuum create by frustration and hopelessness could conceivably become toxic and cause him to do something he would forever regret . when the inevitable tragedy happens and theyre all catch up in it . sad of all be the good natured jerry and who fall in love with cheryl and make the mistake of tell her so . it a poignant performance by phillips and whose jerry be a compact and energetic figure and brimming over with a new and touch faith in the power of his own will . chittenden pete be just a convince . lanky and soulful and he move to a slow tempo than his cousin but his seeming passivity be deceptive . behind it lie a deep reservoir of anger . krige grasp of the narrative slip occasionally to make you wince with an inconsistency or a lapse in logic but his talent for the elliptical save him at every turn . he have a flair for the kind of moment that can sum up a lifetime . he doesn not have to use word to spell out the contradiction in the bond between the cousin and for instance . he catch it in a single shot of them a they lie around smoking and talk in the bedroom they share in jerry mother house . it in the way the light fall across their body and form sharply edge shadow that both link and separate them . west be life in the bell jar . you may not want to be there but you can not deny the potency of the experience . even so and i be still hanker after east . for the right filmmaker and it could turn up narrative gold . sandra hall and reviewer .