reality_biter I Loved this film.My personal belief is that Jake Reedy is the most interesting and stylish film auteur to emerge from the Queensland Independent scene in many a year. No one is pushing boundaries like he,and this film is a spot of stylized darkness in the heart of the sunshine state. He, along with Co writer Rachael McMeeking have created a wonderful lament to the self destructive nature of young love and obsession. Tin God is a world of nihilism, self loathing and broken people.Rather than a A to B story, This is an intensely brooding character study on Ethan, played to absolute perfection by master craftsman Tana Smith, a bubbling fountain of barely restrained psychosis, a similarly self obsessed, but much more rageful character to Sean Bateman from the amazing Rules of Attraction, of which Tin God shares much in the portrayal of it's broken, flawed dramatis personae. Orbiting the emotional black hole that is Ethan is his step brother Jesse, played with a sly wit by the amazing Benjamin James Doolan, whose performance fills Jesse with a likable loathsomeness, relishing the cheek of his character and playing it with a stark honesty to Ethan's self deluded nature. In the closing moments, this is the tragedy we are keenly aware of: That Jesse has been honest with Ethan the entire time, like the friend who tells you the truth you do not want to hear. Enabling Ethan is Joey Kingman as Cassie. Kingman's performance is so subtle and nuanced that it seems to not fit with the others, which i believe is it's strength. Through Cassie, Kingman shows us that she does not fit in with these dark, crumbling souls, and that her character is a path to redemption that is ultimately a casualty of the cycle of destruction Ethan locks himself in.Whitney Duff as the heat breaking Sasha is not the cause of all this, but the match that starts the inferno. Duff is electric as Sasha, The girl you know is bad, yet Duff fills her full of a melancholic sadness that is like the first drops of rain upon an empty beach. Amazing acting.One thing I adored worthy of note was the costume design. Avoiding the usual traps, There was obviously a lot of thought put into the characters wardrobe; Ethan seems to primarily be attired in black and white for most of the film, reflecting his characters world view, Sasha is the type of punk rock girl absent from Australian cinema, Jesse is in blues and blacks, reflecting the laid back nature of his character. Cassie is very warm and inviting. And the Halloween party was a visual feast of costume, particularly with Cassie and Jesse.The lighting! What an achievement Reedy has pulled together under such adverse circumstances. The lighting and camera work are the signs of true talent, to infuse such style on such a limited budget shows the true creativity of this director. This is true cinema veritae in action, to bring the elements of what could be akin to the style of 'found footage' films, marrying it with the neo noir stylings of Sin City and Mann's Miami Vice and blend it with the dreary undertones and high drama of films such as Best Laid Plans, Gossip or Body Shots.Over all, the true cold heart of Tin God is the uncompromising reality. The language, the nudity, all ring true. A great film from a director and cast who will go places. I have rented twice, And I will be buying this art-house gem and urge you to do the same!

Thrilla2012 If this review could be the word 'Garbage' written for ten lines, it would. following the hype of the director internet presence, you may be fooled into expecting some sort of breakout debut film. And you'd be left very wanting. The characters in this film are all unlikeable. Reedy has tried to create some love letter to self destruction and instead left me watching a bunch of emo jerks. It's like an Alice In Chains or Pearl Jam video. Some body, please let the director know that the 1990's are long over!!!The film is sloppily constructed, And in spite of the fact I hated this exercise in exorcising teen angst, I will admit, as other reviewers have, that the final act does work in building mood and tension. If you can get past the jerky camera and bad editing at the start!!!ONE WORD: DULL!!!!And double standard - why in a movie that is full of graphic nude scenes and language is the lead character taking a bath in his boxers at the start? I thought the Director was supposed to be a hardcore, daring rebel film maker? How is that DARING??? LOL.This was a big, boring letdown. Maybe Bronze Priest would have been a better title.

Micheal Boone A good attempt from first time director Jake Reedy. Vision and talent are there, execution not quite so much. An attention getting intro is quickly undone by long, tedious scenes of Tana Smith's Ethan moping around, making sympathy for such a self absorbed character hard to muster; Things pick up when Whitney Duff's Sasha is introduced, mainly due to her ability to hold the screen. Smith and Duff have great chemistry,which Reedy uses in his favor to play their blossoming relationship with all the hotblooded tension of young lust.More of Ethan being emo. In fact, Ethan may be the lead, but his screen time is almost detrimental to the other characters. Both Sasha and Benjamin James Doolan's Jesse are interesting characters, but never seem to be lavished with enough character moments to flesh them out. The few they do have are quite well done, such as Sasha's self loathing shower scene and Jesse's post coital confession, but there's only so many moody moments of Ethan sulking in his bedroom we can stand.Around the halfway point, Tin God does pick and hit the gas, with some great scenes between Ethan and Sasha, Ethan and Jesse, the neo doco/noir/grunge style really begins to work and it limps toward being a solid film. The music works with the camera to build mood and the film focuses on it's 3 leads. It's just a shame you have to suffer through the dawdling first half to get to the goods. Had the fat been trimmed from the start, this would have been a very solid film, but long, pointlessly moody scenes of nothing mixed with pointless characters ;I am still wondering what the point of Ethans friend Cas was; and dull 'character' scenes makes for an uneven film. One must wonder if Reedy slept through the first half of the edit, and awoke to put together a stylish final act. On the whole, better than some Independent fare Queensland film producers have thrown at us, but still not quite there. Shows potential which could improve with experience

Indiefilmfan79 I was lucky enough to view Tin God recently, and while it is not without it's faults, it's a solid independent film effort that has one foot firmly in the great American indie film boom of the mid to late 1990's. However, It's very dark and certainly not for everyone.The story is very reminiscent of this sort of film, feeling much like a cross between Greg Arakki's Doom Generation and Reality Bites. Nihilistic 20 something slackers caught in their own self destructive ways looking for love and happiness. It's an old story, But writer director Jake Reedy manages to infuse it with a sense of gritty realism and a sense of melancholic fun, almost an 'angst for the memories' note to everybody's mid 20's. The script stands out because of the dialogue. Reedy and Co-writer Rachael McMeeking have done what so many Independent films fail at and have given their characters the voice of real, 3 dimensional people. these characters speak like people you know. The dialogue is witty and sharp, without venturing into tragically hip territory. As great as the script is, it's delivered with mixed results. Tana Smith and Whitney Duff as Ethan and Sasha respectively, shine whenever they're on screen,especially together, some of their 'dating' scenes are incredibly sweet and real. Both are perfectly natural and filling the more emotional scenes with burning intensity. Benjamin James Doolan delivers a solid performance, making a character that should be completely unlikeable verge on empathetic, especially with his great monologue confession to Sasha. The weakest link here is the actress playing Ethan's friend Cassie. I found her unconvincing and difficult to watch. She lacked the intensity and natural charm of the other cast,and there was no chemistry between her or other cast members. As a character I'm assuming, from the story, we are meant to feel sympathy for and relate to,I felt none. In fact i would go so far as to say I felt a sense of relief when her character was killed on screen, as it returned to sole focus to the rest of the cast who could hold the screen.The look of the film is a strange mix of almost film noir and a grungy music video/ documentary, almost like reedy has been inspired by Micheal Mann's experiments in pseudo documentary/ style. When it works, it works very, very well, but earlier in the film it seems to falter in some spots. Obviously Reedy's vision and ambition have far outstripped his budget in this project, but A good solid "A" for effort is certainly called for. All told, Tin God is a good, solid indie effort, a darkly nihilistic look at obsessive ideas of love taken to extremes, full of emotionally broken characters you enjoy yet are capable of horrible behavior. The photography is far superior to what you normally see in an low budget drama, and if the few problems I previously stated ie: an established style, more of a budget, and a more capable actress playing one of the key characters weren't there, I'd rate this film much higher. However, i think it deserves a 7 simply for what the film makers have tried to do, and succeeded in some places, with limited resources. Hopefully they'll do another in the near future.