The Switchblade Sisterhood

Following a dramatic revelation, two young women in New South Wales embark on a personal journey of self-discovery and rebellion.

Davo Hardy's sixth feature film is a dark comedy drama filled with meaningful conversations, confrontations, emotional scenes, interesting characters and themes related to feminism.

Lacey (Tomsen), is a youngster who lives with her mother, Vanessa (Rachele Edson) and father, Dean (David Charles Colins), who is a paraplegic. During a visit to the hospital, Lacey finds out that Vanessa is not her biological mother and that her real mother passed away recently. She ends up meeting her late mother's widower, Martin (Kay-Smith), a hippy who uses tarot cards and her half-sister, Breanna (Flower). Inside a box containing their mother's personal belongings, Lacey takes a switchblade and Breanna takes an interest in SCUM Manifesto, a radical feminist manifesto by Valerie Solanas.

A big portion of the narrative follows Breanna as she goes through changes, having been influenced by Solanas' work. A significant occurrence involves working as a caterer at a party, where she meets Jonathan (Hudson), an optimistic and music-loving young man with whom she has a lengthy argument about feminism. Following some quarrels, the two of them end up starting a relationship, although one that is not approved by Jonathan's parents.

The screenplay effectively explores the characters and their struggles and the character development is quite dramatic. While Breanna embraces feminism, Lacey is torn by the recently-acquired knowledge regarding her real mother and makes another discovery that brings a great deal of tension around. Meanwhile, Vanessa is romantically involved with Martin, as she is unhappy with her marriage to Dean who is hot-tempered and enjoys inhaling petrol and similar substances.

This feature from Australia could be viewed as a comedy drama about family values, rebellion and making the right decisions and as a journey of self-discovery. The subject of feminism is significantly discussed and, to a lesser degree, social class differences are also explored. With a duration of two hours, the film feels a bit overlong, nevertheless, the well-written script, strong acting and rich soundtrack make this a viewing experience that is worth pursuing.