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Clip description
Sisters Ella (Laura Gordon) and Taylor (Charlotte Gregg) leave a meeting with Alphonse Gangitano (Vince Colosimo) in a car driven by Carl Williams (Gyton Grantley). The sisters were due to testify against Gangitano after seeing him commit a murder. Gangitano has made them an offer they can’t refuse: either they leave immediately for an all-expenses paid trip to Europe or he will make them 'disappear some other way’.
Police officer Steve Owen (Rodger Corser) arrives at a Chinese restaurant with girlfriend Susie (Jane Harber) only to discover that Gangitano has chosen the same venue to celebrate with friends from the Carlton Crew (Kevin Harrington, Les Hill, Gerard Kennedy, Callan Mulvey, Martin Sacks, Simon Westaway). Owen doesn’t know why they are celebrating – or that his boss Garry Butterworth (Frankie J Holden) is at the office trying to contact the sisters before they leave the country.
Curator’s notes
This stylish sequence in episode one is written by Peter Gawler and directed by Tony Tilse. It boasts a nice piece of editing from Steve Evans, depicting simultaneous events and creating the tension of time running out. Burkhard Dallwitz’s score helps bind the different shots into a fluid sequence and build the drama, as does carrying Butterworth’s voice across different shots.
Evans’s editing creates rhythm and fluidity, using strings of short shots, visual matches (for instance cutting from close-up to close-up in different locations) and cutting on camera and character motion. Together with the music these techniques create the dramatic drive towards the end of the sisters’ part in the story. Colosimo’s hand gesture foreshadows the aeroplane taking off, which we never actually see. The shot of the sisters walking down the corridor is a dynamic choice for their departure, rather than a view of the aeroplane itself. The clink of wine glasses ends this musical passage with a triumphant full stop – for the Gangitano character at least. Evans received an AFI Award for his editing.
Placing the Steve Owen character at the restaurant is an interesting choice. It serves to enhance the cop-criminal contrast but also pushes Owen’s own story arc forward. Seeing Gangitano 'get away with murder’ provides motivation for Owen’s desire later to pursue the Carlton Crew and other underworld figures. This sequence also allows his romantic plotline to develop a little without taking time out from the main storyline.
