Written and Directed by Goran Stolevski
Starring Thom Green, Elias Anton, and Hattie Hook

One morning during the Australian summer of 1999, a young female awakes on a beach at an unknown location in a distressed state and desperately searches for a telephone booth to make an urgent call for help. At first, it may seem and would certainly read on screen as though something truly awful has happened to her at a party she attended the night before. As it turns out, Ebony (Hattie Hook) simply had too much to drink and is due to compete at the finals of a local dance competition starting in an hour with her more than dedicated dance partner, Kol (Elias Anton). After a heated exchange, Ebony instructs Kol to accompany her brother Adam (Thom Green) to find and pick her up in hope they can make the championships in time. On the way there in Adam’s brown Holden Kingswood, the two guys engage in playful banter; Adam poking fun at Kol’s chosen attire and Kol being enlightened by Adam’s taste in music. Shortly before arriving at their destination, Adam and Kol unexpectedly begin to develop feelings for one another.

Of An Age is an Aussie gem for the ages. A film where simply living in the moment with its characters and being a part of the connection that forms between the two men is movie magic in itself. What truly stood out to me in this on-screen romance was the approach to the foundation of their mutual attraction – the connection between the young men is born from simply having real and relatively unreserved conversation. You can truly feel the chemistry between them coming off the screen as it builds just as much, if not more, than you can in any Tom Hanks and Meg Ryan romance from the nineties. But bear in mind, this undeniable and palpable attraction between Adam and Kol must be kept privy from homophobic surrounds and may only have its present moment to survive. 

This is such a beautifully directed movie by Goran Stolevski and it feels personally written too. Or at least written by a man who has lived some of what transpires and genuinely feels his own material. While I can’t find that there is any truth to this work of fiction, many similar striking parallels are drawn to my own life and I’m sure many others in my current age bracket who lived in less affluent suburbs or regional towns and had their gay sexuality awakening around the time Of An Age is set. This and the stinging realism during its finale is something I was not ready for or expecting to find in Of An Age and it left me rather speechless. 

Intimately shot and scored and featuring astounding acting performances from Thom Green and Elias Anton, Of An Age is a film I will never forget and will always treasure.

Of An Age is showing in selected cinemas across Australia from March 23rd.

Moviedoc thanks Roadshow Films for the invite to the screening of this film.

Review by Leigh for Moviedoc

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