Yet another small budget "arty" downbeat Australian film which would not have been made without government money, though the story is an adaptation of a novel by a American author, Newton Thornbury, relocated from suburban Chicago to the Flinders Ranges. Directed by Rachel Ward, it stars the Flinders Ranges, her husband Bryan Brown as the dying father and Ben Mendlesohn as Ned, the estranged son who, at the urging of his younger sister Sally who is looking after the old boy (Rachel Griffiths in good form), has come back to the family's drought-stricken farm to say goodbye. Ned has in tow Toni, a sexy but trashy girlfriend half his age, but she does not stick around for long. The atmosphere is pretty tense, as the reunion brings back memories of other family members long dead, including the eponymous sister beautiful Kate and brother Cliff.
Despite the depressing subject matter I found the film absorbing. There were some obvious deficiencies – Sophie Lowes's inaudible dialogue as Kate, the under – development of the Cliff character and the total absence of the mother, but these were offset by really strong performances by Bryan Brown (though he did not quite look as if he was on the point of death) and Ben Mendelsohn (who has matured into one of our better actors). I also rather enjoyed Maeve Dermody's turn as the trashcan. The flashback scenes are rather dream-like and not always very clear, but of course so is human memory. We see things very much through Ned's eyes – this is a subjective account of a painful past. The editing is good though, and the cinematography superb – one thing Aussie film-makers usually get right.
Well, it's a miserable story but at the end the surviving members of the family are a little closer. Ned is a writer but in the end this story proves too personal to be used.
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