Peaches

(Herald rating: * * * )

A downbeat coming-of-age story set in the fruit-growing country of South Australia's Riverland, this small film has a frustrating lack of momentum but is held together by good performances from Hugo Weaving and Jacqueline McKenzie.

The central character - at the start at least - is Steph (Lung), a girl in her late teens who was born moments after the death of her parents in a freak accident. She has been raised by her mum's best friend Jude (McKenzie) who, like everyone else in Swan Reach, works in the peach-canning factory.

Steph is given her late mother's diary and she reconstructs a past that has been kept from her, discovering it involves people who are still in town, notably Alan (Weaving), the cannery manager whose life is one long clash between duty and friendship.

Things get pretty murky before they get clear and at times it feels as if the story is too slight to carry its own weight.

Newcomer Lung, who bears a disarming resemblance to Audrey Tautou (of Amelie fame) is appealing, although the physical aspects of a relationship she becomes involved in - which has a more than slightly incestuous whiff about it - is lingered over in slightly prurient detail.

Monahan, who helmed the excellent and theatrical The Interview, directs competently enough but aficionados of the Australian family drama genre (think Return Home and Mullet) may consider it has been better done before.

CAST: Hugo Weaving, Jacqueline McKenzie, Emma Lung
DIRECTOR: Craig Monahan
RUNNING TIME: 90 mins
RATING: R16, contains drug use, sex scenes and offensive language
SCREENING: Academy from Thursday