Staff Pick Premiere: One morning-after pill, please

Last year at the Sundance Film Festival in Park City, Utah, our curation team saw an Australian short about a broke, rebellious, and determined young woman hustling to get a morning-after pill. It stopped us in our tracks. The film, called “Slapper,” is a ticking-clock thriller counting down to possible pregnancy, set in the poor Australian outskirts of halfway houses, drug dens, delinquents, and dog thieves. At the center of the story is Taylah, the titular “Slapper” (Aussie slang for a promiscuous woman), who is failing to balance her sense of teenage freedom, invincibility, and privilege with the reality and responsibility of being a desperate young mother.

Director Luci Schroder wanted to capture a coming-of-age story about a thrill-seeking teen girl dealing with her own bodily autonomy. Schroder says she wanted the short to be “observational, off-hand, perverse, and set in an authentically rough Australian world. I wanted to see a bold teen girl who makes mistakes unapologetically before realizing her responsibilities.”

From the opening scene depicting unprotected sex, the energy and graphic anarchy of “Slapper” is apparent and the comedy of errors begins. There’s a constant tension in the film — literally and philosophically. Taylah may have autonomy and be in control of her decisions, whether they be brash or logical, but she’s also a victim of circumstance. She’s dependent on no man, yet she’s clearly not functioning well with independence. She’s a living contradiction. Taylah has two responsibilities today: babysit her daughter and get a morning-after pill to prevent a new one. It’s a fascinating conflict to see unfold and, at each turn, Schroder dashes our expectations. She replaces a traditional coming-of-age arc with that of a thriller and cloaks it in terrible decisions — sex, drugs, and violence — but its effect creates one of the most invigorating and frightening mother/daughter pairs I’ve seen on screen in years.

The characters aren’t from nowhere, but rather they are amalgamations of real people Schroder met after working on a documentary about a halfway house in the Gippsland area of Victoria, Australia. Many of the inhabitants were in and out of jail, had intense fractured families, and struggled with addiction, mental illness, or poverty. Moved by the Gippsland community and their resourcefulness, she felt compelled to place “Slapper” in a similar setting and world, tonally. The desperation, angst, ingenuity, and sheer will she showcases on screen are hallmarks of the authenticity she strove for. That was one of Schroder’s biggest aims — to depict the cyclical nature of Taylah’s life, from her poor roots and lack of education, to unprotected sex, random drug use, and her peer group. All of these factors keep her locked in this cycle.

The film found resounding success in its home country, winning top prizes at the Sydney, Melbourne, and St. Kilda film festivals, as well as the Best Director prize from the Australian Directors Guild. Now, one year after its premiere at Sundance, the film makes its online debut as our latest Staff Pick Premiere. If you dug what you saw here, be sure to watch Luci’s two other Staff Picked films and keep your eyes peeled for her upcoming feature film, which is under development now.

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