I gave it a 7.5 out of 10

if their story seems completely bonkers, almost like a feverish work of fiction, you ain't heard nothing yet.

The movie runs out of plot and jokes well before the end of a two-hour running time, long for a light comedy.

Amazing worth wacthing. So good. Biased but well made with many good points.

It will not come as a surprise to hear that "Drown" is a hard movie to watch at times. What you may not anticipate is that this is not entirely due to its themes of warring homophobia and homoeroticism in the ultra-Australian, ultra-masculine context of surf-lifesaving clubs. It's not even due to the sex or nudity, which, for an R18+ movie, is surprisingly tame. It is in fact due to the movie's distracting editing and over-reliance on slow motion and steady cam. Yes, that includes the obligatory night club scene where the character goes crazy on drugs and we see him dancing in slow motion with different music playing on the soundtrack than what everyone else is dancing to. You know, to show how alienated he is? If we hadn't gotten that already.Some of the other touches work, such as flashbacks to childhood and adolescence, but these are spread on too thin. One gets the impression that "Drown" would have worked better as a short movie. It's the impressionist touches that work, but too much impressionism leaves little room for actual impressions.You can also tell this movie was based on a play, which is confirmed in the end credits, and I'm not sure that's a good thing. When you see a play you have reached a tacit agreement with the theatre directors that, yes, you can suspend disbelief that the people on stage are wherever they're pretending to be. In a film, I'm not sure it works that way. We can see much farther past where the stage would end. In "Drown", we can even see cars and people. When a scene at the beach features multiple instances of assault, sexual degradation, forced nudity and near murder, you find yourself watching the cars in the background roll by, expecting one to stop and see what's going on. Not so in a play.

This was an emotionally dark film that is very difficult to watch due to it's provocative and confronting nature. Nonetheless, Drown is rich, compelling and very relevant in addressing an important issue in our current society. The cinematography was beautifully executed, with strategically laid out jumps to different areas in time that keeps the viewer engaged. Many of the low scores seen on this page are due to the confusing nature of the movie itself. I have to admit watching the film a second time made all the difference. Only on my second watch did I really learn to appreciate how brilliantly strategic the time line jumps were placed.A bit of background knowledge in human body language and psychology is required to fully understand and appreciate this wonderful film. Any individual who are used to overstimulated and simple movie plots would otherwise find this flick very disturbing and distasteful.The movie follows three lifeguards. The main character, Lenny, is a closeted gay man who was raised by a physically, mentally, and emotionally abusive father. His father taught him to suppress his sexuality at a young age and the only way to survive is through rage and abuse. As a result, Lenny grew up to be a bloke with low self worth. He became a raging alcoholic who is afraid of his own feelings and sexuality. Externally, he puts on a persona of a bully and an alpha male that overachieves to cover up and compensate for the void he feels within. Meat, the second lifeguard, is Lenny's emotional co-dependent best mate. Their self worth are heavily depended on the action of the other. Meat was made fun of for his oversize "member" by the other boys when he was young and Lenny was the one friend that stood up for him and told him he should be proud not ashamed. In many way, Meat was Lenny's shadow doing everything Lenny told him to do. He's there for Lenny's emotional support and to inflate Len's ego whenever it is needed.Along came Phil - a new member of the lifesaver club - who saved a little boy on his first day on duty and became an instant threat to Lenny. Phil became more and more a threat to Len's masculinity as he gradually takes over his spotlight. Not only that, Len is physically attracted to Phil, making his feelings toward Phil a mix of both admiration and hate.Although Phil has a boyfriend, you would be blind not to see that he was becoming a moth to the flame that is Lenny. He would lie to protect Len despite being bullied by him. He would turn down a romantic dinner with his boyfriend to go out with Len. There's more than enough steamy sexual tension and homo-eroticism between these two throughout the film to start a sauna. Unfortunately, despite his hot for Phil and the fact that Phil was slowly falling for him too, Lenny was unable to reconnect to his long disconnected feelings and instead his inner shame was intensified by what's going on. Lenny's shame was turned up a notch after he finds himself receiving oral from a feminine guy at the gay bar and got caught by Meat. This led to a series of unfortunate events at the beach where Len humiliates and buries Phil alive the same way his father humiliated him and how he has been burying his feelings all these years. In the midst of all the nonsense, Meat confronted Len on how he has been secretly fancying Phil and has a disturbing way of showing it. Len challenged Meat to a swim off to prove his manliness. Huge symbol here: Phil is buried in the sand on shore to be drowned by rising tide and here you have Lenny swimming towards the ocean, far far away from him. Lenny's low self worth. The threat to his image and reputation of a champion. His feelings and sexuality. These are the things Phil was a symbol of. Lenny would rather drown than face his own demons and face who he really is within. This was result of the huge impact that his upbringing and hyper-masculine environment has on him.If this film isn't rich, I don't know what is. You can call it distasteful, a disgrace, and a perverted way to depict homosexuality, etc.. In reality, Drown is a one of a kind film that makes people think. Not necessarily with our own sexuality per se, but maybe with feelings that we have long abandoned; shames and dramas in childhood that we sometimes would rather "drown" than to face. I don't know. Just a sincere thought.All in all, a lovely film it was. There's something crazy alluring about a sexy tough guy that is emotionally messed up. Maybe I can see what's in the core of people that they themselves can't see? Matt Levett not only did an incredibly convincing job as Lenny, but he's oozing sexiness which was such a treat. This is a rare gem and easily one of the best Aussie films out there, especially if you are a fan of dark visceral materials. Highly, HIGHLY recommended.

One of the worst films I've seen in a long time, gay themed or otherwise. There isn't one minute of this film that doesn't ring false. The relationships between the three characters is so far fetch that you spend every minute thinking that there is no way in hell these three would spend time together. If any one thinks this is an important gay film they must suffer from the same low self esteem and self loathing that the main character does. Are we really supposed to believe that someone who has a loving relationship with a seemingly very nice guy would give his antagonist the chance to repeatedly, and I mean repeatedly, torment and physically abuse him? Where is the logic in that? Any self respecting gay man would have had his tormentor throw in jail after the first scene and he could have saved us the torture that repeatedly followed. A total waste of time that is painful to watch.

This is a very important film as it puts the the ugliness of homophobia firmly under the microscope. Fantastic performances by Matt Levett (in particular), Jack Matthews and Harry Cook keep this piece moving along, aided by razor sharp direction by Dean Francis (who also DoP'd the film). It's hard to define this film - it's original. Shot on a mini budget around the beaches of Sydney and the seedy night spots of Kings Cross, the film is edited (also by Francis) is a montage style which works well, and suits the subject matter and feel of the film. The best way to describe it is as 'a ride'. As an audience, one is challenged, terrified, ashamed, enlightened and enthralled - but best of all, one comes out of the screening changed, and thinking deeply about what you have just seen. Seek it out. Highly recommended.