Small budget goes far in Aussie thriller
You’ll Never Find Me (R16, 96 mins)
Directed by Indianna Bell and Josiah Allen
Reviewed by Graeme Tuckett
***½
Making a really effective thriller with only two speaking actors and a single location is a difficult thing to pull off. And first-time directors Indianna Bell and Josiah Allen haven’t quite managed it with You’ll Never Find Me. But, they have given it a red-hot thrash. And for that, they deserve respect.
The two players in You’ll Never Find Me are a man called Patrick and a woman whose name we do not learn.
Patrick is an older guy, living in a mobile home on a caravan park. He’s the caretaker of the park, although from what we see of the place, not much care is being taken.
On a dark and stormy night – this is not a film that shies away from established tropes – there is a knock at Patrick’s door. A young woman is asking to come in and maybe use a phone, or get a lift into town.
Her story rambles, but she tells Patrick she fell asleep on a beach and now her car is not working. Patrick offers to dry her clothes and take her to a pay-phone.
As you start to watch You’ll Never Find Me, you might assume it is another Aussie entry in the flogged-out genre of Wolf Creek imitators, in which nice young people from the city fall victim to murderous older blokes in the outback.
And, for a while at least, Bell and Allen are happy to act as though that is their blueprint.
But, there is something deliberately off-kilter about the setting.
Have these people met before, as Patrick believes? Is one of them suffering from amnesia? Should we be worried for the young woman’s safety, or is Patrick falling victim to a home-invasion?
As is often the way with films with puzzles at their heart, You’ll Never Find Me eventually paints itself into a corner from which some fairly bonkers twists and reversals are the only way out.
For about 75 minutes, You’ll Never Find Me is a slightly long-winded set-up that we hope will lead to a satisfying pay-off.
And for the last 20 minutes or so, as the plot, lighting and soundscape all go off the rails, the film morphs into an oilyrag Aussie Argento-wannabe that only a curmudgeon could really dislike.
You’ll Never Find Me takes too long to get to where it’s going – and doesn’t make a lot of sense when it arrives. But, actors Brendan Rock and Jordan Cowan (Harmony) are both fine – and the cinematography and soundtrack are sometimes exceptional.
As an example of what inventive film-makers can achieve with limited resources, there is still a lot here to like.
You’ll Never Find Me is available to rent from Neon and iTunes.