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Jindabyne
Didn't see any thread about this film. It came and went very fast, but thought I'd mentioned it.
By the director of Lantana, and stars Gabriel Byrne and Laura Linney.
The two main characters are absolutely fantastic, I'm a fan of Byrne, and he and Linney give absolutely great performances in this film. I had very high expectations for the film, and it was very good, but not quite as complete as I'd have like. The film is set in Australia, and the basic premise is Byrne and his buddies go fishing and discover the body of an Aborigine girl, but decide to keep fishing and report the body later. The outcry strains Byrne and Linney's already difficult relationship, and it shifts between focusing on their struggles and the divide between the white townspeople and Aborigines.
The film is kind of an odd film because there are a lot of suspenseful/thriller aspects to it, yet it is decidedly not a thriller and in reality is mainly a character drama. I almost thought it would have been better if it had remained more strictly a character drama, because some of the suspense scenes almost felt unecessary in retrospect.
In any case, Byrne and Linney control the screen in really incredible ways, and the mystery that sort of veils the entire film and also their characters is one of the most striking parts of the film. The murder is oddly mysterious too, and the film really takes a direction overall that is not what one would expect from a murder mystery, the fact that there is a murderer on the loose is almost completely beside the point. Instead, all the characters in the film concern themselves with the divides that erupt into full view, the vast distance between Byrne and his wife, between the men and women in the film, between the whites and Aborigines, between the families and within the families. The tension between characters is relentless and it all bubbles to the surface after this murder for all to see.
In any case, a film well worth seeing, takes a lot of risks in the way it proceeds plotwise in essentially beginning with a murder and then essentially discarding the entire plot by the wayside and becoming a character study. It's a serious film that builds and leaves you with a great deal of tension. The way it captures the environment and the whole aura of the events and the characters is really quite stunning.
Recommended if you can find it in the theaters, but well worth a rental when it comes out on video. A serious film, certainly takes some risks in the way it unfolds that some may view as flawed, but ultimately totally worth seeing. Byrne and Linney deliver some of the best performances I've seen in quite some time.
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