The most cinematic looking Australian film I've seen, considering it was dirt cheap to make that just shows the ingenuity and resourcefulness of the filmmakers to keep us engaged and not get wound up on the little things. The film is shot in an unconventional, hypnotic style similar to (good) Terence Malick films and contains moments of nightmarish surrealism. The audience is successfully implanted into Len's mind state, with his nihilistic viewpoints burrowing under our skin and confronting us with the messy, confusing playground that is life. The absurdness and harmful elements of the idea of masculinity (bullying, peer pressure, risk taking behaviour) are hurtled towards us like asteroids, like all the memorable films, it doesn't cutely slip in its message with smugness but delivers it with sledgehammer force. The film is ugly, unpleasant, and unflinching, but that is exactly the point of it so those really can't be used as complaints. If it made you sick, it has done it's job. Homophobia is not a cute issue and should never be treated as such. There are sprinkles of dark humour in it too for those who need a bit of relief, but you won't have much time to breathe, it will pull you back in before you can. If you want to challenge yourself and your viewpoints, give it a watch, make sure it's on a big screen too.
Review of Drown
