Jindabyne

Quality for the photography and naturalness of the actors. Quirky for the storyline and ending. Delightful for the setting. It might be 10 years since I was on the Monaro but the power of that stark landscape came through in the film. I could imagine the chill in the wind. The impoundments with their drowned towns could appeal to Australians with a sense of history but may not impact on people who had not seen them before. The reasons for the lakes could have been hinted at, viewers from other backgrounds could have missed out an important aspect of the film's many threads. The story was a little disjointed. It's not clear why an American and an Irishman were the major characters but perhaps there was finance from their respective countries. Regardless, Laura Linney made a huge impact with Tales of the City and she played just as fine a role here. The ending leaves the viewer with unanswered questions and it's a while since I've seen a film like that so it was good to have yet another unusual aspect to this film.