Streamline

Writer-director Tyson Wade Johnson’s Streamline centres around 15-year-old Benji (Levi Miller), a prodigal swimmer primed for a spot on the Australian Olympic team. However, just when he’s about to move his athletics career to the next level, his abusive father (Jason Isaacs) is released from prison after ten years and suddenly reappears in Benji’s life. The resurfacing of traumatic memories shatters the teenager’s focus, knocking his life off track into a path of spiralling self-destruction. Johnson’s impressive feature debut dives into the deep end to tackle themes surrounding strained relationships and past trauma to varying effect, with moments of stilted performances and awkward scripting undercutting an otherwise tightly constructed drama.

Streamline’s biggest success is in Johnson’s restraint. There are numerous points throughout Benji’s ordeal where the film could have slipped into a soap-opera-sized melodrama. Even at the most heated moments where performances verge on over-the-top, the filmmaker maintains a grounded believability that enables viewers to stay invested in the protagonist. Despite Johnson’s best efforts, however, there are nevertheless a handful of scenes in which overly enthusiastic exchanges between characters disrupt this restraint. Thankfully, though, these moments are little more than fleeting distractions, and the script quickly finds its feet again.

The movie is likewise home to some profound insights on the topics at hand. Johnson’s script is extremely heartfelt when it needs to be, with the unlikeliest of characters delivering emotional beats at just the right time for their full effect to be felt. As Benji’s increasingly reckless behaviour inches towards its inevitable boiling point – with one driving scene piling on the tension to an almost unbearable level – viewers are treated to the sort of explosive climax expected from a film of this kind. However, not even the eruption of emotion that is the climax can compare to one sensational scene driven by Miller and Isaacs’ heart-breaking performances. Both actors give their absolute everything in what becomes a deeply cathartic and raw encounter. 

Despite some occasional misfires, Johnson’s feature debut nevertheless delivers a drama that goes deeper than audiences would likely have expected.

Andrew Murray

Streamline is released digitally on demand on 11^th April 2022.

Watch the trailer for Streamline here: