By Sandra Hall
SPIT ★★★½
(M) 102 minutes
In 2003, Queensland criminal lawyer Chris Nyst made his mark as an Antipodean Damon Runyon with his script for Gettin’ Square, a comedy about a gang of Gold Coast identities finding inventive ways to flout the law.
David Wenham stars in SpitCredit: Transmission
They were a colourful crew, but the standout was David Wenham’s Johnny Spitieri. By his own admission, Spit was not too bright, yet he had a gift for non-sequiturs so bamboozling that they could leave barristers and judges speechless.
Now he’s back, mullet, double-talk and all. And he’s still nimble enough to outrun his many pursuers while wearing tight jeans and flip-flops.
He’s a singular creation. He stands with a sway-backed tilt and his default expression is one of astonishment, which is probably designed to simulate innocence. In every movement he makes, it’s obvious that Wenham is having enormous fun with him, and it’s infectious.
We pick him up again as he is returning to Australia for the first time in 23 years. He had fled the country to escape the law and his criminal creditors and, equipped with a false passport, he’s hoping that all has been forgotten. Not so. He’s immediately placed in a detention facility otherwise occupied by asylum seekers. And it’s here that Nyst and director Jonathan Teplitzky lay on the film’s best bits.
Spit is a singular character – and it’s obvious that David Wenham is having enormous fun with him.Credit: Transmission
Spit’s most engaging feature is his empathy with anyone who’s doing it tough and among the refugees, he finds plenty of kindred spirits. He’s soon teaching them Australian English, helpfully suggesting that they adopt ocker versions of their names, and one or two firm friendships are formed. But on his release from the facility, his old enemies, plus one or two allies, are waiting for him.
Sadly, Timothy Spall’s well-heeled crook, Darren “Dabba” Barrington, one of Gettin’ Square’s most memorable characters, is not among them, but Helen Thomson is back as his widow, Marion. She’s doing her best to project an air of gentility as the proprietor of a funeral home which – unlikely as it may seem – is a legitimate business. But Spit’s in real trouble when his arch-enemies and principal creditors, Chicka Martin (Gary Sweet) and Arnie DeViers (David Field), a crooked cop, get wind of his return.
The film is supposed to work for those who aren’t familiar with all that has gone before, and much of the time it does. You don’t need to have sat in on Spit’s previous court appearance to enjoy the spectacle of him tying his cross-examiner in verbal knots all over again. But the script is packed with so many characters that it’s easy to get lost. Confusion results and tension flags about halfway through the action.
It’s really about the saltiness of the dialogue and the tone of seriousness that the actors bring to the plot’s many absurdities. They’re all experts in the art of the deadpan delivery but none of them can match Wenham. It’s as if Spit has taken him over. As well as mastering the physical idiosyncrasies that create such a great clown, he’s given us a poignant character study that goes well beyond caricature.
Spit is in cinemas from today.
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