“Pure Scum” is a Nightmare of a Night
Would it be unfair to say that one of the characteristics of Australian cinema is its bleakness? The Philippou brothers are the most recognizable Aussie filmmakers who have broken into the global mainstream. Their two films, Talk to Me and Bring Her Back, are unrelenting in their meanness. Two of the most famous Australian films, Wake in Fright and Picnic at Hanging Rock,are similarly desolate. Of course, not all Aussie films are bleak, but an undercurrent of violence ripples beneath many, and Gideon Aroni’s Pure Scum is no different.
They say you can judge a person based on the company they keep. When Pure Scum introduces Ayden (Will Hutchins) and Jesse (Nikita Chronis), they seem woefully mismatched. High school friends who grew up to be very different. Jesse is talking about the drugs they’re going to sell while Ayden cautiously broaches the subject of taking a step back from all of this. He wants to go to university, study business maybe. Jesse pushes Ayden for one more night, just the two of them, out on the town, but this night will change their lives forever.
Of all the movies that take place over the course of one night, Pure Scum is certainly in the running for the worst situations that characters find themselves in. Things go from bad to worse to dire for Ayden and Jesse, but it’s hard to feel any sympathy for them. These are two kids from privileged backgrounds who put themselves in dangerous situations of their own making. One of Ayden’s now-distant friends, Jazz (Morgan Godfrey), sums it up perfectly. It’s not about drugs and who’s using them, she says, “It’s about two rich assholes who think the world owes them something because they’re fucking bored.”
Pure Scum and Obsession are making this the year of the insidious nice guy. These boys wholeheartedly believe they’re the good ones, but they’re more evil than those who relish being mean. How could a boy with a good family be in the wrong? Pure Scum dismantles this way of thinking from the ground up in such an unsettling manner. Chronis and Hutchins are a nasty, knotty duo, two hedonistic boys who believe they’re not beholden to consequences. It’s a terrifying mindset to live in for the length of the film.
After the opening scene that introduces the dynamic of Ayden and Jesse, there’s a brief flash of a title screen, then the film changes its style. Suddenly, things are glossy, polished. An interviewer (Jess Zuker) sits across from a variety of characters. She asks them about Ayden and Jesse, their relationship, and this one night. Pure Scum cuts between these put-together interviews and the dirty reality of the night. The whiplash is harsh, purposefully so. The audience needs to feel the disconnect between the truth and what people are telling themselves to make them feel better about their role in all of this.
Pure Scum is bleak. There’s no way around it. Even before the violence of the night unfolds, the relationship between Ayden and Jesse is doomed. They’re mismatched, yet not in the way one might think at the beginning. The interview angle of the film allows this exploration of two deeply unlikeable men to reach new depths and shows how true crime media has a hand in manipulating the truth. The ending of Pure Scum is a kick when the audience is already down, but there’s no better way to finish a movie like this one.
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