It's a dark story about a small-time teenage pot dealer in western Sydney trying to escape the grimness of his own life. And it's also the story of a close friendship between cousins and what happens when these two lost boys fall in love with the same girl.
Throw in a murder, themes of suicide, betrayal, paranoia and guilt and you have West - a brilliantly shot edgy film written and directed by former Springwood High School student Daniel Krige.
The film premiered at the Berlinale in 2007 and is now on the Stan streaming service. It's inspired by events Krige experienced growing up, events he wrote about at age 15. At 16 he applied for "re-write money" from the Australian Film Commission to fix his 300 page hand written first draft and got the money, but the movie wasn't made until almost 20 years later.
"My teenage years were not nearly as dark as what is depicted in West. The story was inspired by my friendship with my cousins James and Kal who lived in Merrylands. I'd wag school, catch the train to Parramatta and hang out with them in the canals in Merrylands where we ended up shooting some of the film. The rest of the story was very loosely based on different incidents that happened to people I knew, or things I'd heard about. I took various disparate events and dramatised them into one (hopefully) coherent story."
Krige said after writing the initial draft, he dropped out of school and started a TV writing career, on the soap Richmond Hill at 17, followed by Correlli with Hugh Jackman fresh out of drama school, and Sweat featuring 16-year-old Heath Ledger. Throughout his career he was mentored by Katoomba resident, the late Tony Morphett [Water Rats, Blue Heelers].
"I had the drive to pursue my dreams at a young age, despite my parents telling me to finish high school and get a real job."
The Age called his film a "surprisingly effective plot-driven atmosphere piece".
Krige said there are many Blue Mountains aspects to his first feature film.
"One of the stars, Tim McCunn, went to Blaxland High and the co-producer Matthew Reeder grew up in the Mountains and attended Springwood High," he said.
Upon its release, West garnered almost universal critical acclaim. Krige has made two short films based in the Mountains - one of which Happily Ever After, shot in Bullabulla, placed second at Tropfest. He is currently working on a feature film proposal with game show host and TV star Larry Emdur.
"I'm probably most proud of West and The Agent thus far... both very different pieces. I wrote, directed, produced and acted in The Agent, which was an intense, but rewarding experience. Even more so after it went on to win many awards, including Best International Web Series at New York Web Fest in New York City."
While teenage misadventure proved his initial filmic inspiration, since then he's relied on newspaper articles, conversations with friends or from "the ether".
He said ideas from the ether "are probably the best. It's almost as if you're a conduit of God's creativity in those moments".
These days Krige,50, lives with his wife (an ex Mountains girl) and their new baby in Galston in the Hornsby shire for work reasons, but they are "constantly talking about moving back to the Blue Mountains". He dedicated the film to his brother Michael, who died in 2004.
