Film Review: Bad Girl

A duo of impressive young performances elevates Bad Girl above your usual humdrum psychological thriller.

Filmed right here in Perth and winner of a 2016 WA Screen Award, Bad Girl is the feature length debut for filmmaker Fin Edquist, one of the creative minds and writers behind some of Australia’s best-loved TV series’ such as The Secret Daughter, House Husbands and McLeod’s Daughters and the recent animated Blinky Bill Movie.

The film follows tearaway teen Amy (Sara West), a sulky drug-addicted 17-year-old living with her adoptive parents Michelle (Felicity Price) and Peter (Benjamin Winspear), whose life is turned around after meeting new neighbour and all-round darling Chloe (Samara Weaving).

The two strike up a dynamite friendship that at first seems wholly harmless – but secrets and lies start to etch away at their relationship and before long it’s clear that nothing is as innocent as it first appeared. 

Having been moulded and fine-tuned by Edquist over a period of about a decade, Bad Girl offers raw and unrelenting insight into female friendship and sexuality, as well as commenting on the idea of belonging and family. The purposely-vague title should be your first clue as Edquist succeeds in penning and shooting a project that plays both sides and shapes a bold new twist of the classic cinematic femme fatale.

A lot this success stems from West and Weaving’s respective performances, which grow and develop naturally across the tight 87-minute runtime. West deftly traverses the tricky tightrope that is the sulky teen, both frustratingly self-destructive and sullen but also sympathetic; the film hinges on her performance navigating both extremes and the actress successfully explores both with ease. Weaving shines too as the almost too-perfect girl-next-door with watery blue eyes that conceal her true intentions.

The cinematography (Gavin Head) and moody score (Warren Ellis) round off an impressive debut for Edquist, who is able to root himself in the minds of two girls and deliver a film that is honest, raw and often shocking. The third act feels a little protracted and the twists and turns a little convoluted at times, but on the whole this is an notable Australian production that offers a notch or two more than your average psychological thriller.

The Verdict: 6/10

Serving up something slightly different to your usual psycho thriller, Bad Girl is a polished genre gem crafted from a micro budget. 

Bad Girl is in cinemas across Australia from April 27.