BLAZE ★★★½

(MA15+) 101 minutes

The coming-of-age movie is a genre Australian writers and directors have fervently embraced. At one point in the history of the industry, the rite of passage story was prevalent enough to be read as a metaphor for the maturing of Australian cinema itself.

The latest example is a particularly ambitious first feature directed and co-written byAustralian artist Del Kathryn Barton. It’s an intimate psychological thriller packed with ornately designed dream and nightmare sequences that star one of those highly fashionable creatures, a dragon.

But unlike the deadly crew which make up House of the Dragon’s fire-breathing arsenal, this one is benign and very pretty. He’s studded with Swarovski crystals and graced with a pair of gleaming black eyelashes long and lush enough to sweep the floor of a teenager’s bedroom.

His name is Zephyr, and he’s the imaginary soulmate of 12-year-old Blaze (Julia Savage), whose life changes irrevocably when she witnesses a crime. Walking home from a shop one afternoon via a back lane in Sydney’s Paddington, she sees a row break out between a well-dressed couple ahead of her. She hides and goes on watching as the man attacks the woman before raping her and leaving her for dead. Blaze and her loving father, Luke (Simon Baker), are swept into the police investigation that follows.

Barton has said the story was inspired by a combination of research and personal experience, both her own and others whom she and co-writer Huna Amweero came across when preparing their screenplay. It’s strong stuff, underpinned by Savage’s remarkable work in the leading role. A poised and thoughtful pre-teen on first acquaintance, Blaze is so shocked by what she’s seen and by her inability to stop the attack and help the woman that she is reduced to a state of guilty self-loathing. Luke does what he can to understand what she’s going through but finally, he, too, is at a loss.