Wasted on the Young

source: Wasted on the Young

WY is a violent, disturbing, low-budget Australian film whose plot and conflict are a bit similar to "Betrayed at 17" but go to lengths far beyond those of the Lifetime B-17. While it focuses mainly on the very darkest aspects of adolescence, it's pretty and sadly moving in a few spots, and the acting/characterization are undeniably real. WY also has a touch of the artsy and the surreal; it does a nice job of meshing certain characters' fantasies with their realities. Another interesting aspect of this film is how, although a few sparse adult voices are heard, the only visible characters are the teenagers, something I haven't seen anywhere outside of "Charlie Brown." The pace of WY often plods (particularly in the middle), and the scope is limited almost exclusively to the teenagers' school and homes. Those qualities, along with the fact that WY's just generally a real downer, will obviously not appeal to some tastes. Others will find, as I did, that its better, more unique qualities make it a memorable and worthwhile experience.

not your typical slash and burn revenge movie. although the ending leaves the viewer hanging (how dearly we want to see the villains squirm some more), it wouldn't have been as effective. prevalent in any society are bullies and the people who let them get away with it. what the movie aims to impart is that we can do something about it. I could understand why the female protagonist felt so helpless, its because of the fact that society will tend to put the blame on her for putting herself in that position in the first place. and she knew that. i've read most victims of rape will not report it to the police for fear that no one will believe them. suffice it to say that i like how it turned out in the end. even if it took me a few minutes to do so:) we see the male protagonist leaving it up to general consensus on who will be shot dead, him or hes step-brother. and i guess humanity didn't loose its innate sense of justice and choose well..

A big school party happens and young people get together to listen to loud music and take some drugs-- which aren't revealed, leaving it to spectator's imagination. After this party, a girl is supposedly raped by some of the guys out there-- in fact, I don't know if she was only raped or raped and murdered, since I found the plot extremely confusing. Actually, the whole story is complicated and spectator needs to pay big attention to understand what's going on-- in my case, it wasn't enough. Photography direction is beautiful and I believe director wanted to show the whole thing in the eyes of a ketamine user-- not that I experienced it but I read a lot about this drug. In the end, I sadly couldn't understand if the girl died, who died, what was real and what was not. Maybe I didn't pay enough attention, or maybe "Wasted on the Young" isn't an understandable movie at all.

What I liked about this movie was that it made a very strong point on how dramatically can a life go south when you are young, fragile and think you're invincible and free to experiment all you want without serious consequences. In that light, it's a real eye opener, as I believe it's getting more and more hard for people to be young and safe at the same time. I'm afraid the movie itself wasn't too much of a good job. Most of the scenes were over-dramatized, the dialogs did not offer much and there ass little room for exploring the true minds and souls of the characters. What got my attention was the style of scenes - very contemporary cold-feeling interiors, design and colors mixed with the techno club music. All this was accompanied by visual effects like fast forwarding or slow motion. As a matter of fact, it was a dynamic cut. Maybe little too dynamic - there were certain scenes that were only visualized imaginations of characters and then the movie rolled back - which might have taken a while for the viewer to actually understand. These daydream-like flashes were triggering almost randomly and most of the time viewer could have very hard time understanding what has or hasn't happened. Mood and content wise, the movie crushed everything possibly beautiful in a blood bath of modern darkness and shallowness, but I think it was meant to leave a reaction of bitterness in you, since the scenes and plot was quite drastic. In a strange way, it might be the intended message of the movie for the viewer to pick up.

As another reviewer put it this movie is a social commentary. It is not your feel-good movie of the week. Though that does not mean, there isn't light in here too (depending on the way you look at it and what you think it might want to achieve that is). Above all though, the movie creates a mood that is difficult to describe, but easy to grab. If you want, that is of course. This is not everyones cup of tea. As mentioned, this won't give you easy answers (maybe you don't see any answers at all in it), but it might get you to think about certain things. This isn't something you can watch to relax of course, but if you want food for discussion, if you want a movie that deals with emotions and some really strange things that are going on in our day to day life, it will be a real rewarding experience watching it.

I found it tough to rate this movie. First off, the acting and cinematography are great. The plot idea is superb. There are some great political and social overtones. (Kudos to the reviewer who said this was "Lord of the Flies meets Facebook." That's a great analogy.) It's clear that this is a "Peanuts" world where adults are out there somewhere, but can't be seen or heard. However, if the writers wanted to go that direction, they can't create a world with adults that's totally without them. In Golding's vision, the adults were simply not present. In this world, the adults are there, but totally inert. This ruins the movie in a few ways. I won't give away plot elements here, but there's a fight in the film. It's preceded by a chase through library, halls, classrooms, etc. and students pour out of those rooms. The fight continues unabated until one of the protagonists is defeated and hauled off. Yet no teacher intervenes when students abandon classrooms; nobody appears to halt the fight, help the injured or otherwise restore order. This is rubbish and the plot point could have been written many other ways to accomplish the same purpose. I'm not giving a rating below 5 because it's not that bad. However, the basic plot and social situations exploited in this film had huge potential... potential I'd have given a 9-10 rating for... yet somehow flopped. Maybe in 10-20 years someone will give another go at this plot. In the meantime, only watch it if your current string of movies-to-see lacks better rated movies.

If I were a shooting enthusiast, this DVD would be quite useful as a skeet! As it is, I'm not a shooter and so the only other use I can think of for the disc is to use it to make a mobile where it will reflect all the colours of the spectrum and, maybe, give some pleasure - because, as a movie, it sure as hell doesn't give any! I have often thought that I would like to visit Perth in Western Australia but, after wasting over an hour-and-a-half on this, I'm not so sure. It seems that there are no adults there - just mindless teenage morons who hold parties in mega-expensive houses and attend a school where there are no teachers and the haves enjoy bullying the have-nots. (I think - because, to be honest, I have no idea what was going on most of the time!). I have given this movie 1 point only because I liked Adelaide Clemens and hope that she hasn't totally ruined her prospects by allowing herself to be used in this load of rubbish. Another reviewer has described this as Lord of the Flies with SMS and, whilst that is quite succinct, I think it does Lord of the Flies no favours because to even mention both film in the same breath is insulting! This has to be the worst film I have seen since I-don't-know-when. Rather than watch it, take up shooting or go and make yourself a cool mobile!

could not figure out the the other ratings until i saw that they were from Australia, could understand 20 percent at best. How this gets by the people that made and market the film is mind boggling. Sub titles are needed here sadly, these people do not speaka the English. It is way worse then cockney English which you could possibly learn to follow. We are separated from Australians by a common lanquage. I am not a linguist so i am not sure what they are doing when they speak, its a combination of rapidity and the clipping of words, speaks slower and enunciate You can understand older Aussie films, so this is definitely something new, The film had a pricey budget so this is a error of the first degree. This is hubris, well i am stunned

Stylistic Australian thriller of riveting and thought provoking atmosphere. This is original enough to keep me on the edge of my seat, and once again its another extraordinary debut for an Australian talent. Its also great to see an unknown cast break out of this, performances are great from Oliver Aukland and Adelaide Clemens. Its also scary to see in this teen world where Gen Y Kids interact in their world that adults know little or nothing about, you would then ask the question are they safe or not, and it gives them concern if their not. Visually impressive, it looks gentle on the outside but dark and keep pushing the boundaries to each level. After watching this I almost feel this could definitely use another viewing.