Review: Young Ones

There once was a time when the land was green. Then the drought came. Communities dissolved, with most people opting to cross the border to the more hospitable city dwellings. Others, such as Ernest Holm (Michael Shannon), chose to remain on the land and wait for the water to return.

Patroling his property and delivering supplies to the water men with his son Jerome (Kodi Smit-McPhee), Ernest finds himself at odds with Flem Lever (Nicholas Hoult), a young motorcycle-riding rogue who has been romancing Ernest's rebellious daughter Mary (Elle Fanning). Flem's obsessed with Ernest's land, land which was originally owned by Flem's family before the government parceled it out, but it is Flem's theft of Ernest's Simulit Shadow, the robotic beast of burden that transports the supplies, that sets off a chain of events that spell tragedy for all involved.

There's much to admire in writer-director Jake Paltrow's sophomore feature which aims to unfold a Greek tragedy within a sci-fi western setting. Big themes are tackled, though not always with the full brunt of the tragedy capturing the viewer's heart. Ernest may be a protective patriarch but his drinking is his downfall. Flem knows as much, needling Ernest for his part in an accident that left his wife Katherine (Aimee Mullins) permanently paralysed; and then tempting Ernest to drink some of the alcoholic supplies. Flem only has his pride to blame - his family is still fairly well off but he will not let go of his desire to possess Ernest's land. He is eventually the one that makes Ernest's dreams of a bountiful land a reality, but is soon beleaguered by the paranoia of his machinations being uncovered.

The melodrama may recall George Stevens's Giant (1956) with its central rivalry between Rock Hudson's rancher and James Dean's ranch hand spanning two generations, or William Wyler's The Big Country (1958) where Gregory Peck's upstanding sea captain is enmeshed in two families warring over land (the fistfight between Peck and Charlton Heston is one of the best and most brutal put on film). Yet its visual execution - scenes dissolving into one another, shots such as a medium closeup of Shannon outside his house which pans out to reveal Mary's window nailed shut - have a distinctly Seventies feel.

The science fiction touches - the exoskeleton that encases Katherine to the paper parchment on which a digital video is displayed - contrast nicely with the dustbowl landscape. The plight of the Simulit Shadow, witness to all of the protagonists' crimes, is the most affecting and memorable though Shannon, Hoult and particularly Smit-McPhee turn in faultless portrayals.

Young Ones

Directed by: Jake Paltrow

Written by: Jake Paltrow

Starring: Nicholas Hoult, Elle Fanning, Michael Shannon, Kodi Smit-McPhee, Aimee Mullins, Robert Hobbs