The Final Winter

This is a great little Australian film about how men really screw things up for themselves.

The scene - suburban Australia in the early 1980's, when Rugby league was moving from amateur clubs to the super-clubs we see now.

The characters - Grub has been playing for his rugby club for about 11 years. He's getting older and his marriage is getting stale. He has a fraught relationship with his brother, his wife, his coach - with just about everyone, in fact. He's unlikable, but very well acted by Matt Nable (a former rugby player himself, apparently).

The story starts with an on-field incident which may well end Grub's career. The film then follows the characters as they work through the issues arising from this (I can't say anymore without spoiling the film)

My rather bald summary doesn't do the film justice. This is a really powerful human drama which left me thinking hard for quite a while afterwards. It's tightly constructed and very well acted by the whole crew.

The sports theme is going to turn a lot of people off, but it's really only a backdrop to a very compelling story.