''Go Karts'', also known as ''Go!'', is a 2019 Australian teen

coming-of-age Coming of age is a young person's transition from being a child to being an adult. The specific age at which this transition takes place varies between societies, as does the nature of the change. It can be a simple legal convention or can ...

sports

drama film In film and television, drama is a category or genre of narrative fiction (or semi-fiction) intended to be more serious than humorous in tone. Drama of this kind is usually qualified with additional terms that specify its particular super-g ...

directed by Owen Trevor on his feature film directorial debut. The film stars William Lodder,

Frances O'Connor Frances Ann O'Connor (born 12 June 1967) is a British–born Australian actress and director. She is known for her roles in the films ''Mansfield Park'' (1999), '' Bedazzled'' (2000), ''A.I. Artificial Intelligence'' (2001), ''The Importance of ...

and

Richard Roxburgh Richard Roxburgh (born 23 January 1962) is an Australian actor, writer, producer, and director. He is the recipient of a number of accolades across film, television, and theatre, including three AACTA Awards (including AFI), three Logie Awards, ...

in the lead roles. It resembled similar to the storyline of 2010 Japanese martial arts drama film ''

The Karate Kid ''The Karate Kid'' is a 1984 American martial arts drama film written by Robert Mark Kamen and directed by John G. Avildsen. It is the first installment in the ''Karate Kid'' franchise, and stars Ralph Macchio, Pat Morita, Elisabeth Shue and W ...

''. The film is based on

kart racing Kart racing or karting is a road racing variant of motorsport with open-wheel, four-wheeled vehicles known as go-karts or shifter karts. They are usually raced on kart circuit, scaled-down circuits, although some professional kart races are als ...

community in the

Western Australia Western Australia (commonly abbreviated as WA) is a state of Australia occupying the western percent of the land area of Australia excluding external territories. It is bounded by the Indian Ocean to the north and west, the Southern Ocean to th ...

and talks about an

underdog An underdog is a person or group in a competition, usually in sports and creative works, who is largely expected to lose. The party, team, or individual expected to win is called the favorite or top dog. In the case where an underdog wins, the ...

winning the National Kart racing championship. The film, originally titled ''Go!'', premiered at the 2019 CinefestOZ Film Festival and was released to theatres on 16 January 2020 in Australia. Under the title ''Go Karts'', the film was added to

Netflix Netflix, Inc. is an American subscription video on-demand over-the-top streaming service and production company based in Los Gatos, California. Founded in 1997 by Reed Hastings and Marc Randolph in Scotts Valley, California, it offers a fil ...

globally on 13 March 2020 excluding Australia and New Zealand and opened to mixed reviews from critics.

Plot

Jack and his single mother Christie move into a small town in Western Australia. Jack relieves his painful memory as he lost his father Hooper from cancer. Jack later helps his mum loading things into her new business shop. While helping his mum, she tells him to go to a party at a go kart track. He develops an interest, love and passion for go karting at the birthday party of his new friend, Mandy. Jack also discovers that he is really good at the sport and starts training but must learn to control his recklessness. He strives hard to win the Australian National Go Karts Championship by defeating the best drivers in Australia. He gets the support of his mentor Patrick and his best mates Colin and Mandy to achieve his dream. However he has to confront many obstacles to defeat the ruthless champion, Dean, who is his strongest competitor. Dean gets the support of his father, Mike, who owns a race team.

Cast

* William Lodder as Jack Hooper *

as Christie Hooper, Jack's mother * Adam T Perkin as Hooper, Jack's father *

as Patrick *

Dan Wyllie Daniel Wyllie (born 1970) is an Australian stage, film and television actor. Wyllie began acting in theatre. Early life Wyllie grew up on Sydney's North Shore. He attended North Sydney Boys High School and the University of New South Wales, whe ...

as Barry, the local police officer. * Darius Amarfio-Jefferson as Colin * Anastasia Bampos as Mandy Zeta * Cooper van Grootel as Dean Zeta * Damian de Montemas as Mike Zeta

Production

The film marked debut directorial venture for Owen Trevor, who previously helmed short films. The film was made completely based on

crowdfunding Crowdfunding is the practice of funding a project or venture by raising money from a large number of people, typically via the internet. Crowdfunding is a form of crowdsourcing and alternative finance. In 2015, over was raised worldwide by crow ...

, funded by

Screen Australia Screen Australia is the Australian Federal Government's key funding body for the Australian screen production industry, created under the ''Screen Australia Act 2008''. From 1 July 2008 Screen Australia took over the functions of its predecess ...

, Screenvest,

Lotterywest Lotterywest was established in 1932 as the Lotteries Commission of Western Australia, to run the lottery in Western Australia. It is referred to in the legislation as the Lotteries Commission. It distributes profits to a number of community bene ...

, Spectrum Films,

Create NSW Create NSW is a government agency of the Government of New South Wales, that falls within the Enterprise, Investment and Trade cluster. The agency was created on 1 April 2017 from an amalgamation of Arts NSW (ANSW) and Screen NSW. Create NSW is ...

Media Super Media may refer to: Communication * Media (communication), tools used to deliver information or data ** Advertising media, various media, content, buying and placement for advertising ** Broadcast media, communications delivered over mass e ...

, Fulcrum Media Finance and the

principal photography Principal photography is the phase of producing a film or television show in which the bulk of shooting takes place, as distinct from the phases of pre-production and post-production. Personnel Besides the main film personnel, such as actor ...

of the film commenced in

Busselton Busselton is a city in the South West region of the state of Western Australia approximately south-west of Perth. Busselton has a long history as a popular holiday destination for Western Australians; however, the closure of the Busselton ...

in April 2018. In April 2018, the producers of the film advertised via online platforms to recruit required drivers, teams, officials and spectators for the shooting of the film. The film was entirely shot and set in Australia on the backdrop of

sport. It was predominantly filmed in Western Australia especially in

Perth Perth is the capital and largest city of the Australian state of Western Australia. It is the fourth most populous city in Australia and Oceania, with a population of 2.1 million (80% of the state) living in Greater Perth in 2020. Perth is ...

and at few race tracks in the Western Australia such as Cockburn International Kartway, Bunbury City Kart Club. The official trailer of the film was unveiled by Roadshow Films on 22 August 2019 and the film was also premiered at the 2019 CinefestOz Film Festival. American digital platform Netflix bought the worldwide rights of the film excluding Australia, New Zealand and unveiled its official trailer on 27 February 2020.

References

External links

* * {{Authority control 2019 films Crowdfunded films Australian auto racing films Australian coming-of-age drama films Australian sports drama films English-language Netflix original films 2010s sports drama films 2019 drama films Films set in Western Australia Films shot in Australia Kart racing 2010s English-language films Screen Australia films Roadshow Entertainment films