Going Down is a 1982 Australian film about young people living in a share house.
The film's one-liner reads: "Four women friends leave behind the feral days of youth after a night of uncontrolled excess in inner-city Sydney during the early 1980s."
Contents
Cast
Tracy Mann as Karli
Vera Plevnik as Jane
Julie Barry as Jackie
Moira MacLaine-Cross as Ellen
David Argue as Greg / Trixie
Esben Storm as Michael
Ian Gilmour as Shadow
Danny Adcock as Supporter
Mercia Deane-Johns as Ned
Release
The film was self-distributed and ran for 14 weeks in Sydney but performed poorly in Melbourne. In 2025, Muscle Distribution, as part of its first acquisition and theatrical release, restored the film in 4K for its first-ever U.S. run, premiering at BAM Rose Cinemas in New York.
The film was officially rereleased in May 2026 in Australia by Smart St Films
Reception
"A remarkable landmark in Australian independent filmmaking. Unfortunately, it is a landmark that few people noticed.” - Marcus Breen, Australian Film 1978 - 1992 (1993).
"One of the first films to show the world the true gritty underside of Australian life, Going Down has become a cult classic for its realistic depiction of Sydney in the 1980s, a portrayal decidedly at odds with the sun, surf, sand and barbies of Australia's tourism campaigns." - Melbourne International Film Festival 2009
In the Sydney Morning Herald in 2011 Mark Swayer wrote "no film I've seen has better captured the chaotic heartbeat of the young sensation-seeker's Sydney."