This is one of those films purporting to be based on a true story, stating so before the film starts. This is usually a tip off that only a small percentage of what the viewer is about to see is actually true. Maybe it's a filter? As in if you're worried about the story being straightforward and literal you should adjust that in order to enjoy the ride? I'd say that's good advice because it's a dark comedy about an unwitting pawn being used who, in the end, emerges as the smartest man in the room. A good simple story that works on the screen more than it stumbles no matter what the truth/fictional quotient is.
The central character, Ray, is a young man who is cast as an oafish backward type most definitely past the natural age of being so dependent and subservient to his mother. This is Ray. Ray's life has stalled in part due to him living at home under his mother's thumb. He truly loves his mum though he feels dominated. Ray works as a TV repairman in the last local TV fix-it shop owned by his step-father. His step-father, has, mostly, alienated himself to Ray also being on his last legs with Ray's mother due to his compulsive gambling and drinking. This is a setup for the local crime boss holding Ray's father's debt. He manipulates Ray, through an old football club friend with the step-father's blessing. Ray reluctantly, decides to be a one-time drug mule as he can then help his mother financially while asserting his independence simultaneously.
So, a pretty standard tale of a "sad sack" 'neer-do-well, who perhaps (remember after seeing it I said "perhaps") slow on the up-take, gets used as a pawn for a drug smuggling outfit. For something standard the movie ends much more creative if not original. This Aussie production is definitely not Hollywood in scope, but scores a kind of independent cred as it feels slightly rough not wholly polished much for the good. What could be a boring story which, at times, plays slowly, in the end delivers good entertainment and closure.
The central character, Ray, is a young man who is cast as an oafish backward type most definitely past the natural age of being so dependent and subservient to his mother. This is Ray. Ray's life has stalled in part due to him living at home under his mother's thumb. He truly loves his mum though he feels dominated. Ray works as a TV repairman in the last local TV fix-it shop owned by his step-father. His step-father, has, mostly, alienated himself to Ray also being on his last legs with Ray's mother due to his compulsive gambling and drinking. This is a setup for the local crime boss holding Ray's father's debt. He manipulates Ray, through an old football club friend with the step-father's blessing. Ray reluctantly, decides to be a one-time drug mule as he can then help his mother financially while asserting his independence simultaneously.
So, a pretty standard tale of a "sad sack" 'neer-do-well, who perhaps (remember after seeing it I said "perhaps") slow on the up-take, gets used as a pawn for a drug smuggling outfit. For something standard the movie ends much more creative if not original. This Aussie production is definitely not Hollywood in scope, but scores a kind of independent cred as it feels slightly rough not wholly polished much for the good. What could be a boring story which, at times, plays slowly, in the end delivers good entertainment and closure.