Metal Skin (1994)

Director:

Geoffrey Wright

Writer:

Geoffrey Wright (writer)

Release Date:

4 May 1995 (Australia)

Genre:

Action | Drama | Romance

Tagline:

Everything is about to go totally out of control

Plot:

Psycho Joe, a petrol-head from Altona, Melbourne, secures employment at a local Supermarket. Here, he meets the over-sexed Dazey...

Plot Keywords:

Tragedy | Nihilism | Family Relationships | Driving | Death By Falling

Awards:

3 wins & 4 nominations

Cast

Aden Young	...	Joe
Tara Morice	...	Savina
Nadine Garner	...	Roslyn
Ben Mendelsohn	...	Dazey
Chantal Contouri	...	Savina's Mother
Petru Gheorghiu	...	Pop
Arthur Angel	...	Paul Secchi
Richard Sutherland	...	Rosco
Anita Cerdic	...	Lisa
Tommy Dysart	...	Mr. Graham
Mike Bishop	...	Dazey's Father
Nick Polites	...	Paul Secchi's Boy (as Nicholas Polites)
Felix Biviano	...	Paul Secchi's Boy
Ed McShortall	...	Ted (as Eddy McShortall)
Peter Houghton	...	Thomas

Also Known As:

Speed

Runtime:

115 min

Country:

Australia

Language:

English

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1

Sound Mix:

Dolby

Certification:

New Zealand:R16 | Australia:MA

Filming Locations:

Melbourne, Victoria, Australia

Company:

Daniel Scharf Productions

Trivia:

Jane Usher edited most of the film whilst Bill Murphy only edited the final nail biting car chase. The difference in styles in alarmingly striking and genuinely added fuel to the high octane film.

Another Wright film about marginalised Melbournian sub-culture

Joe (Young) is a dangerously introverted young man whose life has been scarred by his former champion shooter father's descent into madness. Savina (Morice) is obsessed with Satan, having been driven mad by her mother's overzealous Christianity. And Dazey (Mendelsohn) and Roslyn (Garner) had their world shattered when Dazey crashed his car at high speed, causing his girlfriend to suffer hideous burns to half of her torso. Together they are four social misfits, whose `greatest thrill is putting the pedal to the metal and drag racing their problems into oblivion.' Was billed as the new film from the director of Romper Stomper, which may have been a mistake: in many ways the two are vastly different films. But like Stomper, Metal Skin focuses on a marginalised Melbourne sub-culture that is made up of mainly the sons and daughters of the working-class society. Wright knows exactly what he's doing, and takes us right to the edge, paradoxically giving us reasons to feel good about our lives by displaying the depressing hopelessness of his characters'. Young is very good, and completely unrecogniseable when compared with his portrayal of a 19th Century German missionary in Serenades, and the rest of the cast put as much into their roles as they possibly can. It's definitely not a pleasant film to watch, and the climax, a thrilling, above-the-law car chase through Melbourne's dockside suburbs, is as good as they get. Also called Speed, but don't get confused between this and the high-energy Hollywood blockbuster of the same year starring Keanu Reeves and Sandra Bullock! R:7/10.