Fistful of Flies

Here's the angle, in the words of the heroine's mother: 'Men are all like toilets: all engaged, all pissed-off or all full of shit!' Sixteen-year-old refusenik Mars (Walton) finds growing up is hard to do in the repressive, racist, hypocritical, male-dominated Italian-Australian Catholic community she has the privilege to live in. This is daughter-of-Jane-Campion stuff, an off-kilter, suburban surrealist drama, shot in primary colours, with its broad satirical swipes accompanied with droll social observation, brutal episodes of domestic cruelty and an ending of male-vanquishing wish-fulfilment. The performances are in the farce-meets-realist tradition of Sweetie, with Walton giving an especially brave one as the Girl on the Road to Empowerment. Great fun, and all power to the sisters.