Director Tony Mahood
Starring Aden Young, Bill Hunter, Essie Davis
Rated M
Score 5/6
Ben, an arrogant, hustling property developer is wrongly arrested and things from bad to worse when he accidentally punches a policeman at the station. Sentenced to community service at a local day centre, Ben’s influence with a young tearaway forces him to question his values and he learns to see life from a different angle when he falls in love with Wendy, the centre’s formidable and devoted manager
Its probably at least 10 years since I have last seen this movie, it’s a scary thought I have been doing this in one shape or another for that long. I’m sure there might be a few people out there might get a kick to know that somewhere in my collection I am 75% certain that I still have a VHS copy of this movie.
Even though this is what I feel to be my favorite Australian movie I really haven’t watched to many movies starring Aden Young (who portrayed Ben) or directed by Tony Mahood. Why is this my favorite Australian movie? I think part of the reason is because at the time it was one of the first movies that I brought for myself. It should be noted that even though Mahood has a handful of assistant director credits he has only one other directing credit. I have a feeling I might have to work my way through some of his assistant directing credits and sitting here looking at the list, it contains titles I probably should have already reviewed for The Movie Boards.
10 years later River Street is still capable of reaching me in a way I that expect all good movies be capable of doing. However, I am willing to concede that I did not find the final third of the movie to be as emotional as I did when I first watched the movie, because I remembered the ending and I am in a different stage in my life. Though it still made me a little teary eyed.
There was a great performance by Bill Hunter and is a good example of early work of Australian actors who have gone on to have notable careers namely Essie Davis, Sullivan Stapleton and Tammy Macintosh.
Now, to finish off my answer as to why, this is my favorite Australian movie? It’s the final shot of the movie and Aden Young’s voice over is something that has stayed with me for a long time.