Nathalie Morris plays teenage Oly in Bump.Credit:Stan
Edwards (Police Rescue,Rush,Tangle,Offspring) has long been a dynamic and accomplished storyteller with a gift for casting. Karvan (High Tide,Newton's Law,Halifax:Retribution) has grown from a teen actress into a luminous and versatile performer and an astute producer who isn't only involved in projects that might bring her starring roles,asDoctor Doctor attests.
Their recent collaboration inspires confidence from its deft opening scenes. A wealth of carefully curated information about the key characters is conveyed without a line of expository dialogue being delivered.
Teenage Oly (Nathalie Morris) is at the computer in her bedroom,wearing a high school physics Olympiad sweatshirt,surrounded by academic trophies,books by Gloria Steinem and Malala Yousafzai and a poster of Jacinda Ardern. Her mother,Angie (Claudia Karvan),with red lingerie visible under a vivid green shirt,is happily dancing to salsa music in front of the mirror in her bedroom and turning on her vibrator. Dad,Dom (Angus Sampson),we soon learn,has passed out on his boat,surrounded by pizza boxes and beer cans,a recently inked tattoo visible on his arm.
So we're invited to see that Oly is a keen student,that Angie is excited about seeing someone who probably isn't her husband and that their marriage might be in trouble. When Oly bursts in to demand that Angie turn down the music because she's trying to finish an assignment and there's subsequently a terse exchange about Oly's missing childhood comfort toy,er,"transitional object",we also learn that it's not always smooth sailing between mother and daughter and that Oly is caught in that turbulent adolescent space between childhood and adulthood.
Angus Sampson,Nathalie Morris and Claudia Karvan in Bump.Credit:Stan
One ofBump’smany pleasures is the way in which it upends expectations,steering away from cliches and smashing stereotypes. It's the smart,studious girl,rather than a rebellious outcast,who discovers to her horror that she's pregnant. The sporty schoolboy,frequently reduced to a jock type,turns out to be a natural with babies. The bearlike man-child husband is proactive,perceptive and has a big heart.
Another of the comedy-drama's assets is its effortless diversity. Without appearing contrived or tokenistic,Bump looks and sounds like contemporary Australia,from the boys that Oly is involved with,studious boyfriend Lachie (Peter Thurnwald) and soccer star Santiago (Carlos Sanson Jr),to their friends,the teachers working at the high school with Angie and the hospital staff.