“There are some things in life you can’t control: the
weather, wild animals, hiccups, and Katrina”. How does a 19 year-old come to
plot the murder of her father? Spoilt rotten Katrina spends her time drinking,
stealing, taking drugs, having sex, and neglecting her baby daughter Bailey. The
only person in the world she really loves is her brother Danny. But when Danny
gets sentenced to life after he decapitates a shop clerk, Katrina’s
already-reckless behaviour becomes worse. She continues to steal, threaten
others, and punish those who don’t give her what she wants before finally
getting the idea to seduce her brother’s best friend into killing her father.
Whoa. This is a pretty intense flick! A confronting and captivating look at a
daughter from Hell, Suburban Mayhem
puts the dramas of American Beauty to
shame and Alexandra’s Project in the
passenger seat. An out-of-control story where all the main characters are
villains and the ‘heroes’ don’t come off very well, it’s shocking and
compelling at the same time.
“There are some things in life you can’t control:
the weather, wild animals, hiccups, and Katrina”. How does a 19 year-old come
to plot the murder of her father? Spoilt rotten Katrina spends her time
drinking, stealing, taking drugs, having sex, and neglecting her baby daughter
Bailey. The only person in the world she really loves is her brother Danny. But
when Danny gets sentenced to life after he decapitates a shop clerk, Katrina’s
already-reckless behaviour becomes worse. She continues to steal, threaten
others, and punish those who don’t give her what she wants before finally
getting the idea to seduce her brother’s best friend into killing her father.
Just imagine how different American Beauty would have been if Thora Birch had actually killed her dad! What’s
most compelling and fascinating about this movie is that the protagonist is not
always the ‘monster’ that she’s made out to be. What’s fantastic about the
character of Katrina is that she’s on the wrong tracks of impulse and
spontaneity. Amidst all the ‘harmless’ fun and terrible other things she does,
she has quite a few moments of love, tenderness, and even maternity. Quite a
few times she coos to her baby and speaks to her boyfriend about planning a
better future for her. Of course these scenes do get shoved out of the window
when she continues to indulge in monstrous behaviour, but she’s a really
interesting character because she comes across as being both the villain and
the victim. You can never take a guess as to what’s going on inside Katrina’s
head and that’s what makes her such a compelling and fascinating character and
protagonist! Not to mention that Emily Barclay delivers a most brilliant
performance in the role! You can love and hate her, want her and want to be
her, and she can be both scraggy and sexy. Not an easy feat.
Cinematically, Suburban Mayhem stands as the first
thriller-mockumentary that I’ve ever seen. The central storyline is interjected
with character interviews after all the drama has taken place and these run
parallel to the main story, bringing a great second layer of weight and
character analysis to the film.
Starring Steve Bastoni, Laurence Breuls,
Michael Dorman, Anthony Hayes, Genevieve Lemon, Robert Morgan, and Mia
Wasikowska, Suburban Mayhem is an
intense but greatly compelling movie that’s filled with sex, violence, drama,
betrayal, and comedy. I really enjoyed it.
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