The Cost reaffirms Matthew Holmes as one of Australia’s most compelling filmmakers

Chatting with STACK the Twin Rivers and The Legend of Ben Hall director explains the transition.

“I could say that it’s an artistic decision or that I wanted to grow as a filmmaker, but to be honest it’s easier to shoot in a modern setting than it is to film in a historical setting. And it really didn’t feel any different than shooting something set in the 1930s. You still have to make it feel authentic”.

The most polarising aspect of the film is its moral ambiguity. Telling the story of two men exacting brutal revenge against a man who killed a loved one, the drama explores the grey areas of vengeance, forcing the viewer to question their own principles and virtues.

“It’s not just black and white,” says actor Kevin Dee, who plays the perpetrator turned victim of the story. “The audience doesn’t know how to feel about this guy, because obviously he has done these horrible and brutal things in the past, but does he deserve what’s happening to him?”

“Our intentions weren’t to answer the questions, so much as pose the question,” says Holmes, when explaining the film’s position on social justice vs. law and order. “We wanted to make the film like a prism that you could look through from every angle.”

“It was a fine line not to make him a stereotypical bad guy that people are just not going to feel anything for, and there’s got to be a sense of empathy there,” adds Dee. 

The heavy themes are fortified by a relentless, and often jarring, tone and Holmes doesn't shy away from violence. It's a polarising step from the historical period dramas he was previously known for.

“There was a lot of apprehension,” he admits when discussing the brutality on screen. “We had no idea if this film was going to work. Were people going to accept what we were doing? Were we going too far, or were we going far enough? Everything was like a tightrope and we were always second-guessing ourselves. But we did have some guidelines, like we didn't want it to be gory and we tried to make it more psychologically traumatising.”

“Holding my arms up for so long was physically very challenging,” admits Dee, whose character spends the majority of the film, strung up and gagged. “And some of those takes were very long, and I remember a couple of times after we'd done really long scenes I was very very spent. There was one scene I remember that we had to revisit some months later, because something didn't quite work, and I remember thinking 'I've got to get back into that same place again!” he says with an almost traumatised laugh.

“I know Matt had issues casting this role,” he adds. “I know that for some actors these roles are a bit too much and a bit full on, and they don't want to put themselves through that sort of mental anguish, but it's such a juicy role that I felt like I'd be mad not to take it on.”

Make no mistake, The Cost is a confronting film, both psychologically and viscerally, and to describe it as thought-provoking is an understatement. It’s a film that relies on the viewer’s participation. It’s a remarkable, relentless, and thrilling slice of cinema with a lot of complexity, and one that reaffirms Matthew Holmes as one of Australia’s most compelling filmmakers.