Archibald prize winning Australian artist Del Kathryn Barton has imbued her lush visuals into her first feature film about violence against women and childhood trauma.

Thirteen-year-old Blaze (Julia Savage) witnesses a violent rape and murder while walking home from the milk bar. It creates a deep level of trauma that she can only deal with by imagining she is protected by a giant dragon and an army of vintage salt and pepper shakers.

She has a remarkably clueless father (Simon Baker) and an absent mother (whose name might be Hannah judging by the significant glances when the name of the victim is revealed). Her dad starts off sympathetic, taking her to the police and accompanying her to a clumsily-staged pre-committal hearing where Blaze comes face-to-face with the rapist, Jake (Josh Lawson). It seems her dad’s patience only goes so far though and he soon becomes disapproving and self-pitying about her slow recovery. And way too worried about ceiling paint.

There are many things about this film that I struggled with, despite feeling that the subject matter is important. I’m not sure who the intended audience is as the rape scene is so unnecessarily graphic and extended, suggesting this is not for a young audience, yet the messaging is so laboured and didactic that it will frustrate adults. It plods along with way too many shots of the salt and pepper shakers and lacks any real dramatic tension after that opening, awful assault scene. The story feels sketched out in fairly predictable beats as if it was an educational video with some great visuals inserted.

The best bits of the film, other than Savage’s very watchable performance, are Barton’s visuals, shown as elements of the fantasy world that Blaze inhabits. This includes some great animations (I particularly loved the doll climbing out of her mouth) that give us a unique view of Blaze’s mental state. Barton also incorporates some later scenes that use blood (points for a stand out moment referencing menstrual blood) and it gave me an idea that this film might have worked better as a horror. Translating Blaze’s ferocity into real power would have saved it from being twee. It would also have been a cracker of a short film of 20-30 minutes, condensing the beauty, whimsy and strength without dragging it out into a less than convincing feature.

I was expecting more from the dragon. Barton’s visual style is all the way through this and, with the opening disconnected and slightly cringey scene where we see a toddler looking at her artwork, you are in no doubt that she is at the centre. The dragon is a large puppet, covered with all of the good stuff from your craft box – feathers, glitter, sequins – but seems almost laughably clunky compared to the animations and other visual effects. Like Robert Redford directing himself in The Company You Keep or Clint Eastwood in Gran Torino, I got the feeling that Blaze would have been improved with a bit more objectivity.

There is a scene right before the end where Blaze walks down the street and is followed by a growing army of women. It’s a real tonal shift but strangely, as I imagined that all of these women were survivors, it was the only moment of real emotion for me.

Overall, I’m not sure that I will recommend friends see this film but I look forward to Barton’s next undertaking.

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