CAIN ROSE UP

Mental Marksman

Directed by Robert Livings
Starring Luke Ledger, Stacy Gougoulis, Stuart Bender, David Richardson, Adam Sollis

Here’s a thing you may not know about horror laureate Stephen King: since around 1977, he’s made a habit out of occasionally allowing emerging filmmakers to take a crack at one of his short stories, signing over the one-time rights of the princely sum of one dollar. The most famous of these ‘Dollar Babies’ is undoubtedly Frank Darabont, whose early short The Woman In The Room has led to a successful and lifelong collaboration with King (The Shawshank Redemption, The Mist).

Now we have an Australian Dollar Baby in the form of Living’s Perth-shot adaptation of a short story from King’s Skeleton Crew. Cain Rose Up follows troubled student Curt (Ledger - Heath’s cousin, for the record) as he tacks an unsteady course through his final day of university in 1975. As the film progresses, the extent of Curt’s instability becomes apparent, and the film moves in an inevitable and violent conclusion.

It’s a film whose ambition exceeds its grasp, and that’s a good thing - we need young filmmakers who are willing to try to achieve beyond their means. Ledger gives a convincing central performance as the unhinged Curtis, although he is hampered by a voiceover monologue that is both intrusive and heavy handed. Most of the rest of the cast acquit themselves well, although there is the occasional sense that someone is Acting with a capital ‘A’.

The decision to retain the short story’s period setting is a bold one, especially on a budget that’s hovering around the $1,200 mark - films set even in the recent past are generally an expensive proposition. Using private Anglican girl’s school St Hilda’s certainly helps to maintain the retro tone. Other elements are less evocative of the period, but a concerted effort is made to at least be internally consistent in the production design.

The film’s technical achievements are a mixed bag. Although competently shot and edited, the sound work leaves a lot to be desired, especially some of the sound editing and ADR work. There is an old saying that audiences will watch bad camerawork, but they won’t listen to bad sound, and it’s generally true. Having said that, there are some well-handled visual flourishes, in particular the ‘Bogart Poster’ sequence.

Cain Rose Up, although a competent piece of work and obviously made with care and dedication, is not going to set the world on fire. As a film, it is somewhat hobbled by its fidelity to the source material; driven more by character than plot, it lacks the sting in the tail common to many short films, and there is a slight sense that the film just stops rather than coming to a satisfying resolution. It is a solid little film on the whole, though, and should work well as a calling card for Livings and his crew.

_TRAVIS JOHNSON