Sydney Film Festival 2015 - Film Review - Australian Premiere - Ruben Guthrie

Patrick Brammell - Ruben Guthrie

Playwright and now screen director, Brendan Cowell has brought his stage play of the same name, produced for the Belvoir St Theatre, to the screen. This is a unabashedly Sydney-centric film in settings, themes, culture and characterisation with a well-known Sydney based cast including Patrick Brammell, Alex Dimitriades, Abbey Lee, Jeremy Sims, Robyn Nevin, Jack Thompson and Harriet Dyer to name a few.

The storyline for this film follows Ruben Guthrie (actor Patrick Brammell), an advertising executive who leads a party-boy lifestyle, with a model fiancee, waterside house and a reliance on alcohol. After almost drowning in his infinity backyard pool, Guthrie faces a stark crossroad in his life - either give up the alcohol for a year or lose his fiancee, Zoya (Abbey Lee). He decides to take the year-long challenge despite the alcoholic temptations offered by his gay friend (Alex Dimitriades), his parents (Jack Thompson and Robyn Nevin), and his boss at the advertising agency (Jeremy Sims). Ruben Guthrie is quintessentially Australian with a strong Sydney flavour demonstrating that bogan lives are often not about money but about taste. Director Brendan Cowell deliberately set out to focus on the alcoholic influence and makes no apology for the emphasis shown in the film.  This is a old style 'Aussie' film which resonates with the 'mateship' theme and best 'Ocker' traditions.