MOON ROCK FOR MONDAY
****
Director: Kurt Martin
Screenplay: Kurt Martin
Principal cast:
George Pullar
Ashlyn Louden-Gamble
Aaron Jeffrey
Nicholas Hope
Alan Dukes
David Field
Country: Australia
Classification: M
Runtime: 96 mins.
Australian release date: 22 April 2021.
New Australian film Moon Rock For Monday is a road movie but it takes a different route to your average one; it contains all sorts of unusual elements within it and even borders on magic realism at times as it mines material not dissimilar to last year’s Babyteeth mashed up with Glendyn Ivin’s Last Ride. It’s a highly impressive debut from writer/director Kurt Martin and it will take you to unexpected places.
The trip begins in Sydney in 1999, where we meet nine-year-old Monday (Ashlyn Louden-Gamble), who has a virus that attacks her immune system and is expected to curtail her life. In order to keep her safe from illness, her father Bob (Aaron Jeffrey) home-schools her. Her sole trip away from home is her weekly visit to the doctor and it’s on one of these outings that she encounters 17-year-old Tyler (George Pullar) as she waits for a train. Tyler is on the run from the cops and, on a whim while her father is distracted, Monday follows him into a rail carriage, whereupon the teenager recognises that Monday would provide him with the perfect cover when he hops off the train. The police will be looking for a lone man, not a guy with a young girl in tow. For her part, Monday clicks with Tyler almost immediately, so she’s not afraid to go with him. He’s committed a terrible crime and has to get out of the city quick-smart and she tells him that she can be cured if she can get to the ‘Moon Rock’, her name for Uluru. Accordingly, Tyler knocks off a car and the pair head off on the road to the Northern Territory. Avoiding the cops isn’t their only problem, though - Monday doesn’t have any of the daily medication she needs with her.
Martin’s script has great charm and his casting has brought that to the fore. Tyler’s not a bad kid at heart, he’s just had a very tough upbringing and has had to fend for himself from an early age, without a family; Monday, on the other hand, has been wrapped in cotton wool her whole life so everything outside her front door is a big adventure. Together, the two form a strong bond as their days on the road pass. Pullar is a rising star. He has real charisma and his easy banter in this role is totally believable. Remember his name because he should become a major-league actor in the coming years. Louden-Gamble matches him in the charm department and should have a bright future, too, if she keeps acting. The two work wonderfully well together, and they’re together a lot. Their journey brings them into contact with a host of weird and wonderful (and not so wonderful) characters, played by an assortment of well-known actors. There’s David Field and Alan Dukes as a couple of vengeful detectives, Nicholas Hope as an eccentric ‘astronaut’ in Coober Pedy, Jessica Napier as a kindly nurse and Rahel Romahn as Tyler’s friend Moose. Production values are strong and Glenn Hanns’ cinematography beautifully captures the austere beauty of inland Australia.
There are a few times when the dialogue in Moon Rock For Monday jars. Did people use words like “random” and “muppet” in 1999? Hmmm! Still, this is a minor issue and not enough to throw you out of the period. In fact, the Nineties setting becomes less important as the protagonists travel deeper into the heart of the country where, let’s face it, fashions don’t change much from year to year. Lovers of Aussie cinema should seek this film out. Regrettably, it might be difficult because it’s seems to be on limited release but you won’t regret it if you can track it down. In a good year for Australian movies, Moon Rock For Monday is a contender.
Screenplay: Kurt Martin
Principal cast:
George Pullar
Ashlyn Louden-Gamble
Aaron Jeffrey
Nicholas Hope
Alan Dukes
David Field
Country: Australia
Classification: M
Runtime: 96 mins.
Australian release date: 22 April 2021.
New Australian film Moon Rock For Monday is a road movie but it takes a different route to your average one; it contains all sorts of unusual elements within it and even borders on magic realism at times as it mines material not dissimilar to last year’s Babyteeth mashed up with Glendyn Ivin’s Last Ride. It’s a highly impressive debut from writer/director Kurt Martin and it will take you to unexpected places.
The trip begins in Sydney in 1999, where we meet nine-year-old Monday (Ashlyn Louden-Gamble), who has a virus that attacks her immune system and is expected to curtail her life. In order to keep her safe from illness, her father Bob (Aaron Jeffrey) home-schools her. Her sole trip away from home is her weekly visit to the doctor and it’s on one of these outings that she encounters 17-year-old Tyler (George Pullar) as she waits for a train. Tyler is on the run from the cops and, on a whim while her father is distracted, Monday follows him into a rail carriage, whereupon the teenager recognises that Monday would provide him with the perfect cover when he hops off the train. The police will be looking for a lone man, not a guy with a young girl in tow. For her part, Monday clicks with Tyler almost immediately, so she’s not afraid to go with him. He’s committed a terrible crime and has to get out of the city quick-smart and she tells him that she can be cured if she can get to the ‘Moon Rock’, her name for Uluru. Accordingly, Tyler knocks off a car and the pair head off on the road to the Northern Territory. Avoiding the cops isn’t their only problem, though - Monday doesn’t have any of the daily medication she needs with her.
Martin’s script has great charm and his casting has brought that to the fore. Tyler’s not a bad kid at heart, he’s just had a very tough upbringing and has had to fend for himself from an early age, without a family; Monday, on the other hand, has been wrapped in cotton wool her whole life so everything outside her front door is a big adventure. Together, the two form a strong bond as their days on the road pass. Pullar is a rising star. He has real charisma and his easy banter in this role is totally believable. Remember his name because he should become a major-league actor in the coming years. Louden-Gamble matches him in the charm department and should have a bright future, too, if she keeps acting. The two work wonderfully well together, and they’re together a lot. Their journey brings them into contact with a host of weird and wonderful (and not so wonderful) characters, played by an assortment of well-known actors. There’s David Field and Alan Dukes as a couple of vengeful detectives, Nicholas Hope as an eccentric ‘astronaut’ in Coober Pedy, Jessica Napier as a kindly nurse and Rahel Romahn as Tyler’s friend Moose. Production values are strong and Glenn Hanns’ cinematography beautifully captures the austere beauty of inland Australia.
There are a few times when the dialogue in Moon Rock For Monday jars. Did people use words like “random” and “muppet” in 1999? Hmmm! Still, this is a minor issue and not enough to throw you out of the period. In fact, the Nineties setting becomes less important as the protagonists travel deeper into the heart of the country where, let’s face it, fashions don’t change much from year to year. Lovers of Aussie cinema should seek this film out. Regrettably, it might be difficult because it’s seems to be on limited release but you won’t regret it if you can track it down. In a good year for Australian movies, Moon Rock For Monday is a contender.