Sometime lawyer Jack Irish (Guy Pearce) is once again over his head uncovering jockey conspiracies with racing boss Harry Strang (Roy Billing) and dead bodies with fixer Cam Delray (Aaron Pederson). Jack’s on/off girlfriend Linda Hillier (Marta Dusseldorp) is now a famous news anchor in Sydney, and doing a will for an old teammate of his famous football father brings Jack face to face with his past.
Police interrogations, planted evidence, suspect extraditions, and hooded victims open Black Tide, the second 2012 Jack Irish TV movie from returning director Jeffrey Walker and writer Matt Cameron (The Clearing). Jokes at a jockey’s funeral alleviate the crime in quirky Jack Irish fashion, and this seemingly simple request to draw up a will becomes a very personal case for Jack. Black Tide smartly focuses on our attachment to this Melbourne world in the first half hour before corporations with no record of their missing employees and security escorting away anyone who questions it. Stolen money, rumored trips to Thailand, and parked cars with gross bodies inside create international intrigue on top of suspicious spectators at the races and a trail that’s three months cold. Thugs come to the workshop for Jack and special agents repeatedly offering him Nicorette warn Jack to tread carefully before vandals, violence, and hospital vigils.
Black Tide‘s viewpoint is both expanded so we see other pieces of the puzzle away from Jack yet intimate with time to drink as the personal tension and intertwined case escalate. Injuries befalling jockeys are no accident, web journalists disappear, and wives don’t know what their import-export husbands are really doing. Erased messages and rumors of who may have been a federal agent reveal airport scams and cargo cover ups as pictures, witnesses, doctored transcripts, and the titular code names take us back to the opening crime, satellite phones, and Jack on the run. Abandoned cars, derelict searches, mystery mail box keys, and dead bodies aren’t what they seem, for governments versus corporations mean that the Black Tide operation was officially shuttered. The rogue investigation continues, however, and dark crop duster flights to Tasmania begat bullet proof vests, gunshots, and clever sieges. Kitschy souvenirs provide humor in the midst of danger as handcuffs, missing money, set ups, and chases culminate in a photo finish.
Pearce’s Irish is putting himself back together via a hole in the wall law office he shares with a tarot reader. He slurps on a Slurpee while a jockey gives up his info, and too much wine, firelight, and jazz lead to some saucy mistakes and regretful conversations between the sheets. Jack wants to hear the truth about his not so perfect father from his aging teammate upon realizing he actually knows very little about how his drunk dad died unnecessarily in a bar fight. Jack hopes he’s not the spitting image of his old man like everyone says and admits he’s in too deep on this case. However despite his fears, Jack helps the old folks, gets the corrupt bad guys, and faces up to his father’s legacy.
Hillier, meanwhile, is now a news anchor on top of a political sex scandal in Sydney for Black Tide. Jack talks back to her sassy exposés on the television, telling the waiter expecting a table for two that he’s a one not looking for anybody else. Unfortunately, Linda’s calls that she can’t visit increase, and it’s wonderfully realistic that our favorite couple is going in different directions. Sulking Jack leaves her “Are You Lonesome Tonight?” messages when not hanging up on Linda, and both mistakenly mix business with pleasure. Linda eventually returns home to collect her things, and as lovely as their chemistry was in the Bad Debts debut, Pearce and Dusseldorp’s heated arguments in Black Tide remain crisp. Audiences don’t see what initially went wrong – only the endearing aftermath with Linda feeling not wanted and competing with the memory of Jack’s late wife. He didn’t tell her to stay, and although Linda still would have taken this massive career opportunity, she wouldn’t have screwed the smug, sleazy anchor named Pringle if Jack had given a damn. And what’s the best way for Jack to make it up to Linda? Giver her the scoop obviously.
Black Tide spends more time on Jack Irish’s offbeat cast of characters with Pederson’s Cam crawling through the Tasmanian brush with Jack. Cam groans and Jack reads while they listen to Harry’s country music in the jaguar, but soon they are all bopping their heads. Harry, the refined gambler, objects to meeting a scared jockey at the mall however Harry’s willing to contact Drew Greer (Damian Richardson) for Jack’s legal angles to fix a million dollar bet. Of course, Bob Franklin as Brendan O’Grady is so devoted to “Jack f*ckin’ Irish!” that he bemusingly leaves Jack jars with the kidneys of his enemies. In contrast, the geeky, fast talking Simone (Kate Atkinson) is begrudgingly there for Jack’s internet needs. She says should be able to do this research himself but takes his $100 an hour. She doesn’t want him to know about her DanishBlue handle on a dating website, but Jack’s teasing is the only thing that slows her mouth.
Master cabinetmaker Charlie Taub (Vadim Glowna), even finishes the back of furniture no one sees while the cat that never goes away Jack only makes small basic tables. Jack holds Charlie’s hand when he’s in the hospital, but Charlie complains about the lack of quality furniture in the hospital before going right back to work. Burping and farting cop Barry (Shane Jacobson) steals the food from the team as the price for his police presence at their lawn bowling event and asks Jack why he always hangs out with “the cast from Cocoon.” Our old “Fitzroy Youth Club” Eric (Terry Norris), Wilbur (John Flaus), and Norm (Ronald Falk) think Jack’s dad was a prince-like god among men – so they’re not happy to hear that the baller’s feet actually stunk.
Black Tide accentuates the big circumstances with small Jack in his cozy cardigans at elaborate corporate buildings and mod museums with oversize furniture. Camera irises and rapid shutter clicks create visual suspense while Beethoven’s 7th Symphony elevates dangerous personal attacks and mea culpa woodworking montages. The sanding, sawing, biscuit joints, clamps, and oiling the grain become a soothing bond, and Black Tide may be slower for some audiences expecting the establishing intrigue of Bad Debts before it. Here, our Melbourne mood is already lived in, so Black Tide spends its sequel on personal storylines before the chases, planes, and shootouts. Jack Irish can make viewers hold our breath with our favorites in peril or leave us laughing out loud at the sardonic bittersweet.
stills courtesy of ABC (Australian Broadcasting Corporation)
If you liked this, please read our other reviews here and don’t forget to follow us on Twitter or Instagram or like us on Facebook.
Kristin Battestella writes articles, editorials, and reviews for several websites, magazines, and print publications including I Think, Therefore I Review and Search Magazine. Previously a traditionally published author of speculative fiction and the Fate and Fangs vampire novels, Kristin’s DIY Halloween how-tos and Kbatz Krafts articles have been featured at http://HorrorAddicts.net and in two Horror Addicts Guide to Life anthologies. In addition to sewing and @KbatzReviews Youtube vlogs; Kristin can be heard on the Women InSession podcast at http://InSessionFilm.com alongside her written classic film discourse. Kristin is also active in the local author community, having chaired writing events and conferences with the South Jersey Women Authors.
You must be logged in to post a comment.