Nostalgia is a hell of a drug, and it’s one the new Netflix film Allen explores to amusing and poignant effect, with a Sunshine Coast town woven into the heart of the story.
The movie centres on Petey (T.J. Power), a man stuck in a state of arrested development who is still holding on to memories of the alien friend he made as a child at Coolum Beach.
For creator Daley Pearson, the pull of nostalgia is about more than the toys, games and other reminders of childhood – it’s about the people and memories attached to them.
“I don’t think you just care about Jenga. I think you remember playing that with your family and friends, and some of them may be here or gone,” Pearson said.
“You’re thinking about a past that doesn’t exist anymore, and this stuff is your port key to remembering or experiencing that again.”
But Pearson said the things that remind us of the past can also act as “anchors”.
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Produced by Pearson’s award-winning Ludo Studio, the production company behind Bluey, Allen is it’s first live-action feature.
Co-directed by Jeffrey Walker, it explores the tension between not letting go of childhood and accepting the responsibilities of adulthood.
“We wanted to do a character who was trying to hold wonder and responsibility in equal measure,” Pearson said.
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In Allen, Petey is a child growing up in Coolum Beach when he befriends an adorable extraterrestrial he names Allen.
They spend their weeks eating Cheezels and playing board games until Allen is summoned back home, never to be seen again.
That is, until he returns to Coolum Beach decades later.
Some online have joked that Pearson pitched the film as “what if E.T. came back and met Elliott as an adult”.
Pearson said that was “not far from it”, but the idea drew on a broader collection of films about children befriending extraordinary creatures, such as Free Willy and Beethoven.
“All these films that had this magical friend who taught you or brought you out of your shell, made you … like things about yourself, gave you confidence, and then left or disappeared..”
But Pearson was interested in what happened after the happy ending.
“Usually those films end with ‘I’ve got it now’, but what if you didn’t?” he asked.
He said E.T. was the film that most “represented the myth” and was the one audiences would understand most readily.
At its core, Allen explores the lasting impact of childhood loss. Petey must confront the grief and memories he has spent years holding onto.
The story has a personal connection for Pearson, whose brother Liam died of cancer aged 26, when Pearson was 13.
Alongside Power, the film’s cast includes Josh Helman as Jaden, Emily Barclay as Sarah, and Benedict Hardie as Rory and Charlotte Nicdao as Carly.
Helman said the film’s balance of humour and more confronting subject matter was part of what drew him to the project.
“That’s what a lot of the film is, trying to bring a lightness, a comedic and joyful sensibility to the story which deals with quite dark, troubling and hard things. That was the appeal to me,” he said.
This article was made possible with assistance from Netflix.
