Starring: Brandon McCaffery and Billie Hindle.
We meet Tim, a 25-year-old gay man from Manchester, played by Brandon McCaffrey, who is by his own description an ‘ordinary lad’. Like many twenty-something ordinary lads, and lasses, in 2026 Britain, he is struggling financially as well as socially. Tim’s flatmate Jade, played by Billie Hindle, seems to be the constant in his life, as well as his Dad (Mark Benton)- and though financially more stable, Jade is broadly in the same boat as Tim. It is in fact Jade who suggests to Tim that becoming a courier might be a quick way out of unemployment. On his friend’s suggestion, he does this, joining Wallaby Couriers- and in doing so uncovers a whole government plot.
Written and directed in a parody-like tone by Kieron Moore, Secrets of a Wallaby Boy hints, with outlandish humour, at the ills of the modern world: over-reliance on apps (this is how Tim gets his job, without talking to a single human), economic instability and the gig economy, social pressure and lack of connection, including sexual connection, narrating it through the well-meaning, confused and even innocent eyes of Tim, as he navigates both dark and funny situations in his life on a delivery bike.
The good use of montage and extreme wide shots, as well as having an original score by Robert Drane, makes this a technically solid film. It features lovely views of various areas of Manchester and this rootedness in place highlights the realness of the story, which is in creative tension with the parodic tone, and this is to great effect. Meanwhile, the humorous and sincere performances are a nod to the best of British comedy, past and present.
As he navigates plot twists in relation to the deepening of the influence of the Wallaby Couriers app on his life, Tim reckons he kickstarts a workers’ revolution-though he argues he himself hasn’t changed much. Here is a brilliant premise- we have heard before that each of us should ‘be the change you want to see’, and this is true; but perhaps system change does not require a change per se in how we are as humans, but instead a deeper level of consciousness. Comedy in general, and films like Secrets of a Wallaby Boy in particular, are perhaps a contribution to this.