Several friends have been at me for ages to watch Last Ride, the road movie of a violent father fleeing across the vast expanse of Australia with his ten-year-old son, but somehow I’ve felt the need to be in a certain mood to finally rent the DVD. (Far better would have been to see it on its release but its local season was unforgivably short and I missed it.) Well, all the plaudits are spot on. The script, by Mac Gudgeon, is paced to perfection from the opening frame, and Glendyn Ivin’s direction wonderfully combines action, judicious flashback and sweeping cinematography. Tom Harding plays the ardent, confused little boy with great maturity, but it’s Hugo Weaving’s performance that lifts Last Ride from just another edgy Australian drama to something special. His portrayal of a tattooed loser literally unable to bring up his son with wisdom or compassion, but suffused with love for the boy, is heartbreaking. I found the build-up of tension, towards what we always sense will be a harsh ending, a wrenching experience, but somehow the movie manages to infuse the finale with the hope of the young.
Stark, brilliant and worthy of an alt-Oscar. 4 stars.