Ghost stories are ubiquitous in popular culture, so it takes a lot to make one feel fresh. Creator AP Pobjoy turns to the tried-and-true language of the supernatural for SBS series Homebodies; not for cheap thrills or easy metaphor but to illuminate aspects of the trans experience. As a result, Popjoy delivers an original and strikingly interesting premise that reminds us of the malleability of horror as a genre. The paranormal is used as a lens to explore themes including identity and memory, as well as a fraught but tenderly drawn mother-child relationship.
The series – a collection of six 10-minute episodes on SBS on Demand that will also air as a one-hour special on 28 March – not only subverts ghost stories but also the old “estranged child returns to their small town home” chestnut. This setup was central to recent feature films such as The Travellers and The Dry and is a long-running (if slightly moth-eaten) fixture of Australian screen stories.
Homebodies’ protagonist is a young trans man called Darcy (Luke Wiltshire), who comes back to the fictional New South Wales town of Torwoo after his mother, Nora (Claudia Karvan), experiences a health scare. When he enters his family home, an early shot captures something essential about his experience; gazing at a framed photograph of a young girl on the mantelpiece, he catches his reflection in the glass, momentarily capturing both his post and pre-transition self in the same image.
Simple dialogue exchanges are written by Pobjoy with a delicate hand, often imbued with melancholic weight. Take the moment when Nora says, “I’m not really sure who you look like now”, to which Darcy replies, “I look like me.” The dynamic between these characters alone would be enough to sustain interesting drama but something else is bubbling away – something creepy. It primarily manifests as strange things seeping into the soundtrack: weird, disquieting noises that suggest reality is beginning to shift, or some line of communication is being open with the supernatural.
Before the first 10 minutes have elapsed comes the big reveal: Darcy enters a room and sees Nora speaking with the ghost of his pre-transitioned self, Dee (Jazi Hall). She describes herself as a “ghost, spirit, unresolved trauma – pick your fave”, establishing her from the get-go as a plucky and mischievous presence, agitating an already strained dynamic and, of course, horrifying Darcy. There are the obvious questions teased throughout the runtime: where did she come from, will she ever leave? But, more important, is how the scenario feels: for Darcy, for Nora, and for Dee.
Homebodies invites multiple readings, the most obvious being that the past has come back to (literally) haunt the protagonist. There’s an element of that but it’s also, perhaps more interestingly, about a mother unable or unwilling to let go of the child she remembers, evinced in more of that simple but painfully resonant dialogue, like: “Sometimes I really miss my daughter.”
Every episode was directed by Harry Lloyd except episode two (by Pobjoy) and five (which they co-directed). There’s an element of youthful energy to the series that results in some shortcomings: it’s over-lit and a darker and murkier palette would be more befitting atmospherically and, occasionally, the performances are a little uneven. But Karvan is superb, setting the bar for her fresh-faced co-stars and conveying layers of emotions through small shifts in expression.
Homebodies’ exhilaratingly interesting, thoughtfully explored premise more than compensates for a few bumpy elements. The runtime flew by – I wolfed it all down in a single sitting – and left wanting more. I’ve never seen another film or TV show quite like it.
Homebodies premieres 28 March at 8.25pm on SBS as an hour-long program, and as six 10-minute episodes on SBS On Demand.
