Beautiful Kate

Beautiful Kate is a slow paced drama, with not much action but an overwhelming and disturbing story that will keep you interested for the entire movie. It's the acting that makes it all worth the detour. Ben Mendelsohn, Sophie Lowe, Bryan Brown and Scott O'Donnell made this unusual story watchable even though the plot will disgust more than one. Good job from Rachel Ward portraying this most dysfunctional family.

There are many good things about this film. It unsentimentally depicts the harshness and bareness of outback farm life in Australia. It has some highly creditable performances from some top Aussie actors. The cinematography does justice to the setting.

The problem is the story. Instead of following through on a psychological exploration of some forbidden desires and their roots in this remote community, which is invited so longingly by the scenario, it contents itself with yet another portrayal of the struggle between a tyrannical old bastard of a father and his surviving son, whom he devalues. Both father and son conspire to turn their backs in denial of what could have been a revolutionary turn of events to match, gee, I don't know, Who's afraid of Virginia Woolf or The Homecoming.

A missed opportunity.

I saw this film over a week ago, and it still stays with me, almost haunts me. Tex Perkins' soundtrack was perfect, and like the images, will hang around you for days, perhaps weeks.

The subject matter is not pretty, and may be confronting to many, but in my experience it is not terribly unusual or unexpected, given the remoteness of the family farm. Accolades must go to the cast - Ben Mendelsohn, Bryan Brown, Rachel Griffiths (deliberately dowdy in this)and the amazing Sophie Lowe as Kate. The Flinders Ranges in South Australia also has a major role, and performs well - beautiful, remote, dangerous and overwhelming, a bit like the underlying secret which gets addressed during the course of the film.

This is the story of a family secret, hidden (but not forgotten) for 20 years, and the final revelations are stark and shocking. The cinematography and editing are truly inspiring, and I was thrilled to see such a fine piece of film-making. Top credit however must go to Rachel Ward - Director, writer (adapted from the novel)- as this is her movie, and she deserves every one of the awards that this movie is sure to receive. As a piece of art - which it is - this film will move you, even if it makes your skin crawl, or you find yourself wriggling in your seat. For the experience alone, this film is worth seeing.

Proving once again that when it comes to intense family drama's and quietly powerful studies of grief and secrets, Australia does it just as good if not better than anyone else, little known but well regarded local film Beautiful Kate is a fine example of the above average productions that often manifest themselves in our home grown industry.

Directed by actress turned director Rachel Ward, starring a then just about to hit the big time Ben Mendelsohn and Australian stalwarts Bryan Brown and Rachel Griffiths alongside the at the time newcomer Sophie Lowe, Beautiful Kate isn't an easy or even what you'd call enjoyable watch but this impressively filmed and acted slice of outback family melodrama is a worthy film to be sort out by connoisseurs of Australian cinema.

The most pressing reason to source Ward's film is of course the man of the moment Ben Mendelsohn. Playing internally repressed writer Ned Kendall who grew up with his unloving farmer father Bruce played by Brown, Mendelsohn once more displays his finely tuned performance skills to play troubled characters and it offers us cinema lovers one of the rare chances to see Mendelsohn take lead in a film even if both Brown and Lowe deserve kudos for their respective turns. Lowe in particular makes a rather confronting and stripped back mark as the layered Kate, Ned's sister who is the central cause behind much of his seething struggles.

The film also looks fantastic with impressive camera-work by DOP Andrew Commis and Ward's direction in certain areas really captures particular moments and feelings, no better exemplified by the way in which the younger version of Ned is often displayed in a first person point of view, throwing the viewer head first into the time and place that shaped Ned's life before it ever really had a chance to truly begin. It's a smart directional choice and a brave one as is Ward's determination to not shy away from the difficult and often disturbing subject matters that lay ever present within her story.

Final Say –

Far from perfect and sometimes not as emotionally resonate as you would've liked, Beautiful Kate is a worthwhile tough watch thanks to its fine production values and noteworthy performances that includes a pre-Animal Kingdom Ben Mendelsohn in what's another fine example as to why he should be regarded as one of Australia's best ever acting imports.

Not a film for everybody, Beautiful Kate is however a film any fan of Australian cinema should check out if they missed its original critically backed run from 2009.

3 ½ campaign posters out of 5

I look at movies first from the cinematography point of view, And that was what got me in the start, but as the movie went forward, as I saw acting, as I saw story telling I found out that I'm looking at a masterpiece. Somebody recommended Last Ride, I really like Last Ride but this movie is really in a different league. I didn't know who this movie director is(I do this willingly to don't have any predict) and after I finished it I looked at the director's name: Rachel Ward, yeah Rachel Ward's masterpiece. Bryan Brown's acting is the best, i didn't know Sophie Lowe but she is probably an actor(Isn't actress creepy?) to remember her name for the future. Also time dimensions is something touchable in this movie. I highly recommend it if you consider yourself an open mind person, because you should enjoy the kind of passion thats going to get injected to you.