In 1983, sports-fixated Australia was obsessed with a yacht race in which a corporate raider exhilarated the population by wrapping his desire for sailing glory in the deceptive cloak of patriotism. Meanwhile, in working class Melbourne, the game was less glamorous and more dangerous. Ray has a dead-end job, a compulsive gambling step-father and an ex-jailbird mate who wants a favour. When gambling debts get out of control and local gangsters start to threaten his mum, the opportunity to be handsomely paid to be a drug mule and carry a kilo of heroin in a bellyful of condoms seems like a pretty good idea to Ray ? at the time. However, when, post-Bangkok, “the mule” gets pulled up at the airport by hard-nosed cops who are willing to wait until nature takes its course to determine his guilt, Ray’s plan doesn’t seem quite so smart. Continuing Australia’s traditional fascination with losers and criminals in a sort of sunburnt-noir, The Mule also has a dark comic streak that will provoke a squeamish smile or two. Building on his goofy on-screen persona, Angus Sampson steps up as codirector with Tony Mahony and co-writer with Leigh Whannell(co-creator of the Sawfranchise) and combines all three functions to impressive effect. (Russell Edwards)