What About Sal?

Image credit: imdb.com

I was thinking recently about resilience and the cinema. Take a moment to think about all the changes that have happened within the last 5-10 years that could have really posed a threat to the medium. The rise of streaming services and constant accessible content, and of course, Covid, being the big heavy hitters. But despite both these things, the cinema has continued to lure people into its theatres and delight them with an enjoyable excursion away from the couch. And I’m really thankful for this because if cinema had crumpled and then disappeared completely after Covid, then beautiful little niche films that exist in small reservoirs outside of the mainstream, would go completely unnoticed.

Despite it being a very cold and rainy night on Saturday, I took myself into Newtown and caught up with a friend to support Australian cinema. We treated ourselves to a beautiful little film written, directed, and starring John Jarratt: What About Sal?

When his mother is diagnosed with lung cancer Sal (Gerard O’Dwyer), a 30-year-old retail assistant with Down Syndrome, goes on a quest to find his father – a singer in a rock band that his mother had a one-time stand with thirty years ago.

This is a really sweet and moving little film that proves that you don’t need all the bells and whistles of big-name actors, fast-paced action, and eye-exploding special effects to have a nice time at the movies. A simple story featuring a tiny cast and filmed on the streets of Sydney during Covid, What About Sal? celebrates the simplicity of the quest narrative, enlightens audiences with the plight of a marginalised minority, and inspires audiences to hope that things can get better.

In three acts the film establishes this beautiful world in which Sal, his mother, and their close friends exist, breaks it apart when the mother is hospitalised and Sal runs away to find his father, and then reknits itself as Sal achieves his goal and then starts on a new quest to help his father overcome his alcoholism. Sweetness and sparkling hope flares from the darkest and dingiest spaces in this film and it’s really moving to see the hero, with his unique way of thinking, persevering and then achieving the impossible.

Image credit: imdb.com

The performances are all impeccable, the cast breathing so much life and substance into such a small production.

It’s a film about love, redemption, and proving one’s invaluable worth in the world. It’s truly lovely.

Director: John Jarratt, 2023

Cast: Gerard O’Dwyer, John Jarratt, Kaarin Fairfax, Justin Banks, Lewis Fitz-Gerald, Pearl Herbert, Ric Herbert, Peter Hehir, Camilla Ah Kin, Joanne Samuel & Kurt Ramjan.