MWFF Critics Lab on Sweet As
As part of this year’s MWFF Critics Lab, our fabulous critics were tasked with reviewing a film that screened at the festival. They then worked with mentors in one-on-one feedback sessions to develop their preliminary ideas and channel their critical perspectives into a review. In this article, MWFF Critics Lab mentees Meg Funston and Madeleine McDonald share their reflections on MWFF Opening Night film, Sweet As. Both critics emphasize the film’s themes of coming of age, the literal journey of the road movie, and the film’s breathtaking visuals.
Sweet As: First Nations filmmaking at its most beautiful by Meg Funston
A contemporary coming-of-age drama infused with First Nations’ perspectives and stories, Sweet As blends comedy and drama to great effect, imbuing a sometimes heart-wrenching story with the light-hearted humour reminiscent of many teen films. Directed and co-written by Jub Clerc, a Nyulnyul and Yawuru woman, and starring Indigenous teenager from Whyalla, Shantae Barnes-Cowan, Sweet As follows Murra, a 15-year-old with an extensively troubled home life, as she is sent on a photography camp with four other “troubled” teenagers in an attempt to divert her from a destructive path and remove her from her unsafe home environment.
Performances by Carlos Sanson Jr. and Tasma Walton as the two camp leaders, Fernando and Mitch, offer experience and maturity to an otherwise very young, though talented cast, gifting an added degree of sincerity and significance to the film. Sweet As, is, however, anchored by the captivating and quietly compelling performance by Barnes-Cowan, who only offers glimpses of Murra’s true emotion, usually hiding it under a hardened shell and a closed-off façade, a dynamic which makes her eventual breakdown particularly stirring. While I wish the relationships between the four teenage characters were fleshed out more, the young actors understand their roles well, and all find moments where they offer something deeper, more sincere and compelling.
The first Western Australian feature-length film to be written and directed by an Indigenous woman, Sweet As highlights and respects First Nations’ stories, experiences and cultural practices. Indeed, marketed and described as “the Breakfast Club meets the outback” the cultural and racial specificity of the film, its willingness to address issues of racism and its desire to honour First Nations’ traditions and customs, ensure that Sweet As resonates with, impacts, and offers something new to most audiences. One of the most memorable sequences in the film sees Murra, along with Elvis, (another Indigenous teen on the camp) and Mitch, greeting and paying their respects to the ancestors of the land, and teaching their companions to do the same. In this way Sweet As repeatedly underlines its cultural perspective by sharing traditional practices and customs, and respects the vast knowledge of, relationship with, and reverence of Country that has been cherished by Indigenous communities for many thousands of years. It is not only refreshing and exceedingly rare to see modern, female First Nations’ stories centralised in film, especially those with the ultimately uplifting tone of Sweet As, but it is also an important and necessary development in Australian cinema.
The Pilbara is shot beautifully throughout the film, as Clerc’s direction and Katie Milwright’s cinematography combine to present the Western Australian landscape in a way that honours its beauty, significance, and gravitas. This gorgeous setting is brought to life by Milwright and Clerc in a way that allows audiences to understand the impact that visiting and paying attention to such a place might have on the four teenagers in the film.
Ultimately, Sweet As, with its visually breathtaking story of a young girl who perseveres through painful realities, experiences the highs and lows of teen friendships and crushes, and ultimately learns to believe in herself, offers audiences an invigorating invitation to find the beauty, value and story in the world and the people around them.
A Sweet As picturesque road trip by Madeleine McDonald
Introspection, love, purpose, and change are sweet as in this coming-of-age road trip film from debut feature filmmaker, Jub Clerc. Murra (Shantae Barnes-Cowan) escapes a troubling family situation to embark on a youth photography trip. What begins as a magic-school-bus-meets-breakfast-club movie, ultimately becomes a powerful journey of emotional healing.
Clerc weaves two distinct kinds of films throughout Sweet As. The first is the coming of age film and the second is the road trip. Sweet As highlights how, narratively, these two genres share themes of transformation, introspection, and bonding. Bringing them together, Sweet As presents us with coming of age as a literal journey. This journey is about a group of troubled teens that forge connections through shared vulnerability. The diversity of stories represented by each character provides audiences with a valuable and nuanced look into experiences of outsider adolescence.
The action of the film takes place away from modernity and the distractions of the city. Wide shots of the tour bus travelling to a camping spot illustrate the beautiful landscapes of Western Australia. They also offer a contrast to the landscapes of the mining town that the characters are escaping from. Early on, a wide shot reveals Murra walking home past a massive machine pillaging the earth's resources.
Shantae Barnes-Cowan’s performance as Murra is an admirable feat of restraint. Close-ups of Murra's face offer little insight into her motivations and feelings, and the film’s focus on telling stories through still images becomes an interesting way to capture her shifting perspectives. In a memorable scene, Murra takes a photo of rocks. The image crystallizes into a photograph with a caption developing like film that reads “Strong but shattered.” This poignantly represents Murra’s journey up until that moment.
While Murra’s story takes the foreground, some characters' backstories are somewhat underdeveloped. We are given just a glimpse of their issues, but I am left with more questions than answers. This, however, does not take away from the film's warmth, humour, and optimism. The film concludes with Murra holding up a slide of a joyful group picture, which brings to mind that hope springs eternal for all of the characters.