Strangerland

I can see what they were going for here but I wouldn't say they achieved it but the film is worth a watch although it's very slow.

The best things about this movie are the cinematography, the acting (despite the lame script) and the beautiful and haunting outback locales. The story is so strung out...so stretched. The whole thing could have been told in 30 minutes. As it is the story is padded out with long and luxurious takes of the outback, the stereotypical outback town (of which there are very few these days) and the side story of Kidman's character losing it big time.

I am thoroughly sick and tired of Australian films these days (yep-I'm Australian). They tell off-beat boring stories or focus far too much on the outback that the rest of the world must think we all live in the desert with koalas and kangaroos for pets, speak with an appalling twang and drink copious amounts of beer whilst swatting away huge flies.

Here's the reality... Most Australians live in large cities or suburbs not unlike LA (I know LA so I can compare our cities quite well). Few of our films deal with our cosmopolitan and multi-racial population. Aussie films either show whitebread Aussie families or Aboriginal families in distress. No mention or filming of the other ethnic groups here.

Now whilst trying to tell tales about your culture is a laudable thing, to make a film truly internationally interesting it needs to sell to a wider audience otherwise our film industry will always be relegated to the quirky sidelines while Hollywood conquers all.

Trouble is stirred up in a stifling hot Australian desert town after the two children of new arrivals Nicole Kidman and Joseph Fiennes go missing...and everyone who came into contact with them becomes a suspect in their disappearance. Well-acted study of stunted small town lives, with Nicole Kidman particularly gripping as the sad, desperate mother of the kids (a promiscuous teenage girl and her restless younger brother). Some of the drama has a prickly edge, and the dialogue is strong, however the supporting characters are not a terribly interesting lot, while the simmering tempers in this dust bowl town are not used to heighten the tension (director Kim Farrant treats it as subtext, preferring to focus on the embattled married couple). Repetitive aerial shots of the mountain terrain and surrounding desert grow tiresome (arty yet unrevealing), but the complicated scenario is enough of a draw for admirers of character studies. ** from ****

I love Nicole. One of the best of her time. She normally chose good movies to be part of. Not this one, though. Can't understand what made her accept being part of this...thing. It started out well, but soon loses pace and logic. I couldn't see it thoroughly. Nothing happens. Ridiculous scenes...even sex scenes. Strange and ridiculous. The actors, couldn't deliver cause there's nothing to. A lot of scenes should be cut off, cause they don't make any sense at all. And the end, gosh, deplorable. Deplorable ending. I can't understand what's the point of this movie? For what purpose was it made? And what about the title? Strangerland?! My God! Awful!This movie could have been good.The ambiance, the actors...what a waste of talent and of my time!

After their free spirited, too mature for her age and nubile daughter Lily (a walking Lolita cliché) takes off with her brother into the desert the already unstable marriage falls prey to resurfacing old resentment. Nobody in the small sleepy outback town knows where she has disappeared off too yet many seem to have had some involvement. As the movie progresses we see the mother (Kidman) fall further in desperation induced mental frailty while dad (Fiennes) holds her responsible for their daughters 'adventurous nature' so to speak. Although it starts off well with what seems to be a wholesome plot, either a mystery or a psychological thriller, it lingers and resumes in exploring the relationship between mainly the parents and the towns people. Some over-dramatization doesn't do the plot any good and by the end it leaves you hanging. It lacks a firm direction and goes on tangents instead, many scenic shots, dramatic outburst and at last an unsatisfactory ending. It is the indecisiveness that irritates. When presenting a strong leading plot line it needs to be followed through, at least partly. Fiennes and Kidmans' performances are impeccable despite the failing script.