Swerve (2011, M)

Dir: Craig Lahiff, Australia, 83mins, DCP

Adelaide-based director Craig Lahiff built a reputation with films such as Heaven’s Burning and Fever (seen in Arc’s Bill Hunter tribute in late 2011) and as a master of a hybrid Australian cinema film style combining Ozpolitation-style outback gothic, film noir and the New Hollywood road movie. His first feature film in a decade is a return to what he does best: action-packed, sexy, noirish filmmaking perfectly set in the oft-filmed, and always stunning South Australian outback landscapes around the Flinders Ranges. Colin (David Lyons) happens upon a road accident where he finds a dead man, a beautiful woman, and a suitcase full of money. Attempting to take the cash to the nearest town and do the right thing proves more difficult than first thought, as Colin becomes entangled in the lives of the off-kilter locals (including Jason Clarke and Vince Colosimo, with colourful cameos by Roy Billing and Chris Haywood). The air of remote desolation courtesy of David Foreman’s cinematography only adds to the frenzy and suspense, as does the eclectic score by Paul Grabowsky. A Jump Street Films release.

'Lahiff … is clearly having fun, tipping his hat to Hitchcock and the Coen brothers while keeping tension high’ (Megan Lehmann, The Hollywood Reporter).