When Going Down first screened at Sundance film festival in 1986, American audiences “were so used to kangaroos and slow pans across the wide brown land”, says director Haydn Keenan. Today, the under-seen film is being redistributed by maverick movie maven Elizabeth Purchell. To this day, Purchell says, “most American cinephiles, if they know anything about Australian cinema, it’s either the art house stuff like Picnic at Hanging Rock, or it’s Ozploitation, like Razorback, BMX Bandits, The Man from Hong Kong – but not films like this”.
Going Down is a rich descent into life in 1980s Sydney, following Karli, Jane, Jackie and Ellen on their last night out on the town together before Karli (Tracy Mann) takes off to New York the next morning. As it opens on an all too recognisable Sydney sharehouse in shambles, it is clear things have been going down for quite some time. What follows is a well-oiled portrait of sin city, devoted to the sensuous character of the former Kings Cross. The four girlfriends – two of whom also have writing credits for Going Down – sink into the night, plundering house parties and eventually becoming embroiled in what one of them calls the “most mundane crime of the century”.
