HARD WORD, THE

Hard-boiled entertainment in the Tarantino style is leavened with a distinctively Aussie sense of humor in THE HARD WORD, a slick genre film from first-time writer/director Scott Roberts, the first in a trilogy exploring talismans and taboos of Australia. Guy Pearce (“Memento”. 25th CIFF) plays tough-as-nails veteran bank robber, Dale, head of the Twentyman brothers gang, rounded out by Mal (Damien Richardson) and Shane (Joel Edgerton), all of whom are serving time for robbery. Dale runs the show, Mal is sweet natured and Shane is unstable; together they've pulled off a dozen robberies with no violence, and have accrued a nice little nest egg. When they all get out, a “paperwork glitz” lands them back in jail, at the mercy of the corrupt prison officials and their smarmy lawyer, Frank (Robert Taylor), who conspire to make more money off the brothers. Though they want to go clean, the Twentyman brothers are manipulated into doing a final heist, an ambitious plot to rob bookies after the running of the Melbourne Cup, one destined to go awry. Throwing some wrenches into the works is Dale's cheating wife, Carol (played by Rachel Griffiths of Six Feet Under, Blow, and Hilary and Jackie), whose life revolves around sex and money and who is possibly sleeping with Frank. Dale and Carol are never far behind the brothers. The action is fast-paced, the jokes are grim, and the acting is on the button.