Ten Empty
Ten Empty was devised by Anthony Hayes and Brendan Cowell, during a night out at a pub in Sydney, several years ago. Like many young actors, they were full of ideas and potential projects, but they would make their ideas a reality.
At its heart, Ten Empty is about the relationship between fathers and sons: of the almost parental role that children adopt in relationship to their parents when their parents get older, and of the awkwardness surrounding the shift in these dynamics.
Elliot (Daniel Frederiksen) returns to his family home, to attend a christening. His father, Ross (Geoff Morrell), has married his deceased wife’s sister, Diane (played by Lucy Bell).
Elliot is notably restless and uncomfortable. He’s a working-class lad who’s succeeded in the big city, and has until now, managed to distance himself comfortably from his proletarian roots. Re-visiting his childhood home, and the people he grew up with, makes him cringe. Does he think he’s better than these people?
But there’s more to it than that. Much more. The family is facing a crisis which is not only difficult to face, but which resurrects ghosts from a troubled past.
There are some amusing moments in the opening scenes of this film, that serve to introduce us to the characters, before we’re plunged into the drama, although from the outset, there is an air of discomfort.
Geoff Morrell is brilliant, as Elliot’s proud and troubled father. His ability to play the rugged “Aussie” who, in private, is suffering tremendous pain, makes him an excellent casting choice. Jack Thompson performs probably his best role in years – a small, supporting one, as Ross’s “mate”: a dinky-di guy, who tries poignantly to reach out to Ross, albeit through “blokey” small talk.
The women are also great in this film. Lucy Bell’s character Diane is fighting hard to keep the family from falling apart. Blazey Best, as Bernadette, plays a refreshingly empowered, autonomous woman – the only character in the film who neither expects nor wants anything from Elliot.
In an interview for 3MBS’s Screenthemes, director Anthony Hayes stated that it was their intention to depict realistic, multi-faceted women: not just as ancillary characters to the men but as distinct people in their own right.
The five years it took for this film to finally get made were worth it, given that this is a subject that would have benefited from the maturity that those years would have bestowed upon its screenwriters and director.
Ten Empty is a fine Australian film. It is a mature and thought-provoking examination of the conflict between the traditional hallmark of Australian male relationships – ‘mateship” – and the need for Australian men to develop more emotionally intimate and truly supportive relationships with each other.
It’s also a very promising feature. Hayes and Cowell have accomplished a great deal with Ten Empty, bringing to life in film, a topic that is close to their hearts, but in a non-egocentric manner. For the sake of our film industry, let’s hope that they continue to work together on other projects in the future.