Although only eighteen-years-old, Alice Maio Mackay is already onto her third feature film. So Vam and Bad Girl Boogey were both big crowd-pleasers, and Mackay’s latest film, T Blockers, offers more of the director’s signature style. T Blockers once more presents a story of modern day South Australia told through an LGBTQA+ lens. Announced in an opening title as a ‘transgender and queer’ film, T Blockers has plenty to say about a certain subset of society (TERF’s) and their inability to respect other people’s right to exist. This is a common theme to Mackay’s work, but one that, as ever, is entirely vital and relevant.
T Blockers joins filmmaker Spencer (Lewi Dawson) and roommate Sophie (Lauren Last) as their small town gets taken over by ancient parasites. These parasites feast on the most fearful and susceptible, using them as hosts. The pair and their friends must rally a resistance and save the world from the creatures before their hate spreads. T Blockers works as an allegory for the battle that transgender and queer people face from the hateful TERF’s in the world. That anyone should have to justify their reason to exist is shameful, and Mackay provides plenty of catharsis as Sophie and Spencer slay their way through the judgemental hate.
Before T Blockers gets to the gnarly effects, Mackay spends time with the duo of Sophie and Spencer, enabling the viewer to get to know them on a personal level. The roomies are also besties and from the moment the two appear on screen together, their bond is evident. Friendship is a common theme in Mackay’s work, and as in her previous productions, T Blockers demonstrates how this connection can be far stronger than familial ones. The family you are born into does not have to be the one you keep and in T Blockers Sophie and Spencer have clearly chosen one another. Their closeness allows tension to build as the viewer desperately hopes that they will weather the tsunami of hate coming their way.
Visually, Mackay flicks between hazy blue, pink, and white (or transgender) lighting to a more starkly saturated ‘naturalistic’ light. Then there is the inclusion of black and white segments featuring another outing for the excellent Etcetera Etcetera who channels her inner Elvira. The swirl of different colour settings help communicate through sight alone where the story is and who is on one screen. All of the colourful lighting accompanies Sophie, Spencer, and their friends, their transgender and queer status bleeding off of them and bathing them in beautiful lights. The more stark lighting, which also includes some dangerous reds, is used to convey the enemy. Scenes featuring both sides battle back and forth from a lighting standpoint. In many ways it is as if Mackay’s lighting is communicating the auras of the characters, it’s a clever technique and one that helps cut through the need for clunky exposition.
Transgender and queer voices matter, and as Mackay has proven time and time again, they know their way around a genre film. T Blockers captures the frustrated exhaustion of the community’s apparent constant need to justify their existence and channels it into a gleeful excuse to bring down their persecutors. If you are a fan of either So Vam or Bad Girl Boogey then it is safe to say that T Blockers is a film for you. One of the best exports out of Australia since Neighbours, Alice Maio Mackay continues to be a vital voice in film-making.
T Blockers
Summary
Featuring all of Mackay’s burgeoning trademarks T Blockers further proves her to be talented, interesting, and vital voice in film.
T Blockers was reviewed at Pigeon Shrine FrightFest 2023.
