Of An Age movie storyline. coltish, wide-eyed Nikola (Elias Anton, seen in Barracuda) and his friend Ebony (a spectacularly bratty Hattie Hook, in her feature debut). They’re meant to be competing in a local dance competition, except Ebony’s woken up on a beach somewhere in Melbourne after an all-night rager involving – in her own terms – only “a hyphen” of speed.
It is 1999, which means she has to scrounge for coins to make a desperate payphone call to Nikola, who is busy cutting shapes in his family garage. Also, it is 7.30am, and they’re waking up half the city with their anguished yowls down the line.
Before long, a plan is hatched involving Ebony’s older, cooler brother Adam (Thom Green, of Dance Academy) driving Nikola to find Ebony, the two men forming an unlikely search party. But something shifts on that drive: there’s an easiness that neither could have expected. They talk books, films, girls – until Adam lets slip, cannily, that his ex was a man. (He’s later shown listening to Tori Amos with a poster of Almodóvar’s Women on the Verge of a Nervous Breakdown in his bedroom, so the confession was probably unnecessary – but it’s sweet, nonetheless.)
Nothing comes of it in that instant – and nothing will come of it for a painfully long while – but Nikola’s thoughts are suddenly astir with an eddy of closeted desires. The camera sneaks glances at Adam’s muscles, just as Nikola does; this summer’s day seems to stretch endlessly into the horizon as they cross paths again and again, each time almost, but not quite, acting on their barely sublimated impulses.
As if it’s not agonising enough, they only have 24 hours to make it happen, mirroring the temporal challenge set by another modern classic of queer yearning: Andrew Haigh’s Weekend, where two strangers share a brief, astounding encounter before they must go their separate ways. Adam is about to jet off to study in South America – but the expiration date of any possible romance only makes it all the more tempestuous.
Of an Age is an Australian drama film, directed by Goran Stolevski and released in 2022. The film stars Elias Anton as Kol, a Serbian immigrant in Australia who enters a brief but intense romance with Adam (Thom Green), the brother of his ballroom dance partner Ebony (Hattie Hook). The film premiered on 4 August 2022 at the Melbourne International Film Festival. It was subsequently screened at CinefestOZ, where it was the winner of the Best Film Award.
Of An Age (2023)
Directed by: Goran Stolevski
Starring: Elias Anton, Thom Green, Hattie Hook, Verity Higgins, Toby Derrick, Jack Kenny, Kasuni Imbulana, Grace Graznak, Milijana Cancar, Slobodan Andonoski, Julia Harari, Senuri Chandrani
Screenplay by: Goran Stolevski
Production Design by: Bethany Ryan
Cinematography by: Matthew Chuang
Film Editing by: Goran Stolevski
Costume Design by: Zohie Castellano
Set Decoration by: Quinn Delany-Veldhuis
Art Direction by: Mandi Bialek-Wester
MPAA Rating: None.
Distributed by: Focus Features
Release Date: February 10, 2023
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