Top little Aussie comedy staring Ben Lee, Garry McDonald, Miranda Richardson and the extremely hot, sexy, fantastic, drop dead gorgeous, brilliant actress Rose Byrne.
Basically it's a coming-of-age story, with a few twists. About a high school kid (Ben Lee) who is raised by a couple of hippies who have no idea what the real world is like, and don't want to know. At the start of the movie you see young Placid being forced by his mother to wear a pink fairy dress on his first day of school to challenge the other six-year olds preconceived notions of sexuality!
Coming home with his dress torn, face black and blue and tears in his eyes he's told to "Look for the positive in the situation".
And so his unconventional life continues until the night of his high school graduation, when he makes a film that exposes the truth about his school and his parents (there's a hilarious scene in his film in which his mother (Richardson) confesses to having performed cunnilingus on a friend, much to the horror of his father (McDonald) who proceeds to tear off his clothes and scream about how his penis still has feelings too). After being chased out of the school hall, he's then thrown off a building by a pack of bullies, subsequently breaking every bone in his body, and winds up spending months in hospital recovering. During this time he decides he's had enough and rebels against everything he's known by becoming a drone for a multinational insurance corporation.
Complete with a copy of "How to Win Friends and Influence People" and a George W. Bush style haircut & suit, he's on his way to become "normal" to impress his friend Gemma (Byrne), who is also going through her own rebellion against her scientist father.
It's a comedy, but there's a bit of drama thrown in for good measure, and the film has a similar coming-of-age feel to "Rushmore" and "Garden State".
Highly recommended.
Movie Poster:
http://thecia.com.au/reviews/r/images/rage-in-placid-lake-0.jpg