Film Review: Last Cab to Darwin

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Last Cab to Darwin. Rated M (coarse language and mature themes). 124 minutes. Directed by Jeremy Sims. Screenplay by Reg Cribb and Jeremy Sims.

The collision between cultures and mortality is at the heart of this extraordinary film that features a career-defining performance from Michael Caton, and a fearless, break-through performance from Mark Coles Smith.

Last Cab boasts a cinematic luxury of riches, from Sims’ focussed and insightful direction of a near-flawless screenplay (adapted from Cribb’s play that was based on the true story of Max Bell) to Steve Arnold’s gorgeous cinematography, of which the Outback is the undeniable star.

Rex (Caton) is a taxi driver who has never left Broken Hill. When told he has only months to live, he decides to drive to Darwin where Dr Farmer (Jacki Weaver) is promoting the virtues of voluntary euthanasia, which was legal in the Northern Territory from 1995 until the law was overturned by the Commonwealth Government in 1997.

Leaving behind his mates, his dog, and the love of his life, Polly (a terrific Ningali Lawford-Wolf), Rex begins the long drive north, picking up drifter Tilly (Coles Smith) along the way. As Rex’s health suddenly deteriorates, a backpacking English nurse Julie (Emma Hamilton) joins them to ensure Rex realises his dream of a dignified death.

Of the many complex relationships explored, it is the unexpected one between the defeated, childless and single Rex and the irascible Tilly that is absolutely compelling. Tilly has an abundance of energy and self-destructive attitude, while the ailing Rex is more selective with what he says and why. The scenes they share in ‘the long grass’ are among the film’s finest, matched only by Tilly’s unforgettable charge along an airport runway when, for the first time in the cinema this year, I held my breath.

This review was commissioned by the West Australian Newspaper Group.