THE RAGE IN PLACID LAKE
Year: 2003
UK: Guerilla Films
Cast: Ben Lee, Rose Byrne, Miranda Richardson, Garry West, Nicholas Hammond, Jordan Brooking, Lucas Fraccaro, Cruise Moylan, Zan Cross, Garry McDonald, Eleeza Hooker, Jesse Spence, Simone Cullinan, Socratis Otto, Toby Schmitz, Nathaniel Dean, Stephen James King, David James, Angelica La Bozzetta, Helen Thomson, Sean O'Shea, Errol Henderson, Jeanette Cronin, Belinda Bromilow, Johnny Lockwood, Christopher Stollery, Francis McMahon, Saskia Smit, Claire Danes, Felix Williamson, William Zappa, Alice Lee
Director: Tony McNamara
Countries: Australia / UK
UK: 89 mins
UK Certificate: 15 contains strong language and sex references
UK Release Date: 1 April 2005
Synopsis
Placid Lake (Ben Lake) has always been different. Always gone to far. He has brilliant ideas which have either brought him great success of devastating failure. Usually the latter. He doesn't care: being different in a sea of mediocrity if ok by him.
On graduation night it all comes to a head. Having won a prize for his video film "Life is Superdooper", an upbeat celebration of school life, he switches the films for a darker expose of the underbelly of the school: drug dealing school captains, murderous teachers and sex for supermodel jobs. He feels his won a victory, revenge on all those who've tormented him, but he has in fact gone to far and later that night ends up falling off the school landing breaking practically every bone in his body.
As he recuperates, his parents, his best friend Gemma (Rose Byrne), the police and his enemies wait to hear what he'll say when his jaw is unwired and the full body cast is cut away. He ponders how and why this happened and comes to the conclusion that he did it to himself, by virtue of who he is. He makes a decision, to change who he is, to become a normal straight-laced person of moderation.
On release from hospital, he gets a job at an insurance company and embarks on trying to normalise his relations with Gemma, ie into her bed. Gemma confused and upset at Placid's strange behaviour takes off leaving him alone.
Undeterred he throws himself into his new life and when his parents return from their holiday they're horrified to find their son has changed from a free-spirited young man into a supposedly bring grey-suited insurance salesman.
As he goes more deeply into his normal life, he struggles with what to say, think and wear. Insecurity and neurosis start to kick in. He's lying to everybody about who he is because he has no idea anymore...