Hugo Weaving, Last Ride at the Front of TIFF's Underdog Pack

But Ivin and Co. found a more relatable bond in the intimacy of Mac Gudgeon's screenplay, itself an adaptation (and extension) of Denise Young's novel The Last Ride. "The best stuff was all one or two takes -- really long takes -- of just putting Hugo and Tom in the scene with the script and saying, 'Just go for it, guys,'" Ivin said, singling out the pair's final lighthearted exchange around a campfire. "And they just knew each other so well and knew the characters so well. When I watch the film, it's that scene in particular that I really love They just feel like they're a father and son for real, sitting around telling daggy jokes to each other, which is what you remember when you relate to your Dad in a very positive way. It's not these deep and meaningful conversations; it's telling jokes or goofing off."

Yet Kev would beat Chook with his belt just as soon as he'd teach the boy to swim (literally -- one begets the other), and Last Ride reflects that schism in its cinematography. Director of photography Greig Fraser supplies gorgeous widescreen panoramas of an increasingly treacherous Outback, and Ivin said he and his location scout logged 20,000 kilometers in four months of preproduction to find just the right sliver of sunset, salt flat or junked-car wasteland to accommodate each phase of the characters' journeys. They'd bring them back to Gudgeon, who would often write the into the script as psychological cues.

"I never wanted it to be a postcard of Australia, really," Ivin said. "We were always thinking, 'Let's pretend we're making this in Russia,' or in Mexico or wherever. This could be anywhere. And I think it shows a different part of Australia from what people expect Australia to look like. So I'd just go out and find all these great places, not even sure how they'd fit into the film."

Along with most of the other Australian delegation to Toronto, Last Ride is presently seeking distribution in crowded, cutthroat festival marketplace. It's a challenge, but Ivin more than qualifies for the break, recalling early David Gordon Green in style, talent and potential -- and Green's debut George Washington didn't even have a star in it the way Ivin has Weaving. I could see a deal with Magnolia Pictures in its future; they like these kinds of tour-de-forcey tough sells, and they needn't even be in English. Fingers crossed. The States deserve their own glimpse at greatness.

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