Mystery Road

There is much to commend in this outback-set crime drama from director, writer and cinematographer, Ivan Sen.

The first scene sets up the whole film most deftly: its depiction of the magnitude of the land at sunset coupled with the place name, Massacre Creek, instantly makes it clear that the vastness of the Australian terrain and inglorious, largely unrepented historic events will frame what follows.

Aaron Pedersen plays the police detective Jay Swan, an Aboriginal returning from 'the city' to his small and extremely isolated home town after a 10 year absence. He is estranged from his former wife, now an alcoholic making a hash of raising their daughter, and also the community in which he was raised. Not fully accepted by the white community either, he is the classic outsider forced to go it alone.

Swan is assigned to the case of a murdered Aboriginal teenage girl whose body is found in a state of some decay quite some time after her violent end. It probably won't come as a great shock to find that the rest of the local constabulary, all white and male, are not only indifferent to the crime but hostile to its investigation, impeding Swan at every juncture. As Swan battles on uncovering corruption, drug dealing and civic sanctioned child prostitution, he starts to shed light on the town's inherent racism and misogyny – there appears to be no one in the town of any authority who is either black or female.

The film is a modern twist on the western genre: the lone lawman coming to town quietly determined to see right is done. It is the sort of role Gary Cooper, John Wayne and Jimmy Stewart all handled with ease 60 years ago. Aaron Pedersen is a worthy successor to these Hollywood greats, compelling in his restrained performance, giving just a hint of the angst beneath his calm exterior but always in control of himself. In the main, the supporting cast is also strong – especially Hugo Weaving as a police officer of dubious integrity and an alluded to murky past.

Like all classic westerns the film's denouement is a good old-fashioned shoot-out. This extended scene is particularly well handled by Sen with tight direction and camera work – although his cinematography throughout the film is praiseworthy.

The film has a few flaws. Early scene dialogue giving the backstory is rather stilted – though this quickly settled down; the minor character of a buffoonish local newspaper reporter was both unconvincing and irrelevant – it was as if Sen felt, wrongly, that his film needed a little comic relief. And I was surprised at the amount of drugs uncovered in such a very small town. I'm no expert but I'd have thought the quantity shown would be enough to supply the whole of Melbourne – including its nearby rock festivals – for a year.

Ultimately, many of the film's plot strands were left hanging which was, ostensibly, rather untidy. But on this, I'm giving Ivan Sen the benefit of the doubt. There was no neat resolution to his film or the crimes it depicts, because there is, as yet, no resolution to the social issues he raised in a non-preachy manner.

The negative reviews baffled me and the positive ones can't do Mystery Road enough justice.

From the opening until the dramatic end, the movie is a captivating tour de force. Coming from the U.S. I'm completely ignorant of the racial biases apparently at play in the Australian Outback, and this film subtly puts them on display without having them become overbearing or preachy.

The acting is tops and Aaron Pederson does his subject well, playing him with confidence and understatement. Hugo Weaving's turn as Johnno is also a well-crafted part, not to mention all of the minor roles, all of which came across as completely believable. It's easy to say the Australian landscape had just as large a role as any of the cast, and it read its lines perfectly.

Although there were a few parts where I found it difficult to understand what was said as a result of the local accent, there was no missing the message that was delivered. Again, from beginning to end the movie hit all the right notes, and even its climatic ending delivered a superbly satisfying denouement to the whole.

I've come to appreciate films not produced in the U.S. because they all too often are so formulaic with shallowly cast characters. Mystery Road represents among the best of what I look for in a movie produced anywhere and is tops among such "foreign" films. It is definitely one to catch.

"Mystery Road" is a thriller (with film noir overtones) and a western rolled into one. It examines race relations in modern-day Australia, in particular those between the indigenous Aboriginal population and those Australians of European descent. It does so through the eyes of Aboriginal detective Joe Swan (Aaron Pedersen), who returns after a period of 10 years away to the remote small Australian town in which his daughter Crystal (Tricia Whitton) and her mother - Swan's estranged wife, Mary (Tasma Walton) - live. Swan is immediately thrown into the investigation of the murder of a teenage Aboriginal girl, whose body has been discovered in the outskirts of the town. His investigations soon yield a great deal of uncomfortable information, including police corruption, sexual exploitation and the possible involvement in the crime of his ex-wife and daughter (as well as sundry other local residents). The laconic detective has to contend with a complete lack of co-operation from his police colleagues and from the town's residents, who view any form of authority with suspicion and utter disdain. It all leads to a closing shoot-out sequence that is, for once, realistic and which is beautifully filmed. Indeed, one of the film's many strong points is its direction (by screenplay writer Ivan Sen). The cinematography (for which Sen is also responsible) is amazingly good - just about the best I have seen in any film. The cast too are terrific, particularly Pedersen and Hugo Weaving (who plays Johnno, a possibly corrupt white police colleague of Swan's). The only aspect of the film about which I have reservations is the plot, which does not seem to me to hang together. I may have missed something but there appear to be unexplained gaps in parts of the story. Other than that, "Mystery Road", which starts slowly before gradually building up to its dramatic conclusion, is an almost faultless film - and is certainly one that is worth looking out for. 8/10.

I must say that I am fascinated by the Australian outback, so this movie immediately had my attention. There have been many good Australian films to come out in recent years(The Proposition, Animal Kingdom, and Snowtown come to mind) and Mystery Road is another quality film to add to that list. With some unbelievable cinematography and good to very good acting throughout, Mystery Road was an inherently different take on the mystery genre that I quite enjoyed.

The overall tone of Mystery Road is what sets it apart from other movies of similar type. From the camera shots all the way down to the dialogue, everything is depicted with realism. There is a real awkwardness to the conversations between characters in this movie, almost like you would see in real life. While obviously still scripted, the way Ivan Sen went about depicting these scenes made for a unique perspective. From cinematographic standpoint, this film is stunning. Utilizing both top down angles of the town and low-angled sunset shots, Sen really brought the outback to life quite beautifully. This film really reminds me of the Coen Brother's No Country for Old Men, both in tone and the way the scenes were shot. Also like No Country for Old Men, Mystery Road features a soundtrack nearly devoid of music. This adds a somber, gritty feel to the already stoic nature Mystery Road portrays.

The acting in this movie is pretty fantastic throughout. Some of the supporting characters weren't as convincing, but they played a rather minor role in the overall scheme of things. This movie focuses heavily on the main character, and rightfully so, as he's a total bad-ass. You can read the synopsis above so I won't waste time here. I must say, however, that Jay Swan(played by Aaron Pedersen) is pretty enjoyable to follow as he attempts to unravel the mystery of a dead girl in his hometown. Mystery Road shines a spotlight on race relations in Australia as well, and with Jay being an aboriginal detective, he faces a lot of adversity throughout the film. It is interesting to see this as an American, since we are not often exposed to such things that happen in Australia. There always seems to be a layer of tension below the courtesy between Jay and his fellow townsmen, either due to him being an aboriginal himself or because he is a detective.

Now to the negatives, which there are a few. First, this movie starts out quite slow. I almost gave up on it as I fell asleep twice in the first 40 minutes. Had it not been for the fantastic shots of the outback and a few intriguing individuals, I may not have made it through. Things begin to pick up around the halfway mark but this will most definitely turn some people off. There are also a few plot holes, but I won't give them away as they may ruin some of the ending. Many of the characters are sadly under-developed as well, which detracts from the overall intrigue of some very interesting individuals. While Hugo Weaving was quite good and his character interesting, he role was particularly undeveloped in my humble opinion. Instead, Sen decided to focus more on Jay, which is OK for the most part, but it would have been nice to see some other characters get more screen time.

Overall, this movie offers some fantastic shots of the rural outback of Australia with an interesting plot to boot. Things do start off slow but it also, quite literally, ends with a bang. This ending is not one to miss, and has one of the most impressive gun battles I have seen perhaps ever. If you are a fan of gritty mystery movies, definitely check out Mystery Road.

Huh! I just watched this new-to-me Australian Outback Neo-Western last night all the way through - it's a long and slow one - and never knew it preceded another new-to-me Australian Outback Neo-Western I discovered a few days ago also out of the blue online: Goldstone.

Now, I thoroughly liked Goldstone way better, and now I'm curious to revisit that one since I'm aware it's a sequel to this film. I really liked this main actor and character in both.

Admittedly, both films featuring (the GORGEOUS) Aaron Pedersen as Detective Jay Swan are incredibly slow, this one really made me feel it. Like this one was tough. Doesn't mean it wasn't good with solid acting, beautiful cinematography and sets, along with those dang Australian Outback flies again, though not as prominent here.

It's just, this time I was a whole helluva lost for the most part. It felt like they did, indeed, have a Mystery for Jay to solve, but it keep going in so many crime-filled directions, I never, ever - in fact - find out the bad guy's overall M.O. That might be just me, so you can watch this and make up your own mind. Or just get it. Frankly, I loved the feel of this movie and surroundings and the intrigue of following Jay around everywhere, I just went along for the ride.

Since few words are spoken by Jay and less understandable ones without captions on from his supporting cast, the background is questionable. Apparently, this Detective left this desert-dirt-n-drugs town in the middle of Nowhere, Outback, to work in the big city, leaving his alcoholic ex-wife and child behind. He's been gone for so long, by the time he mistakenly decides to move back "home," people have turned away from him. In all aspects.

Regardless, a truck driver coincidentally finds a dead teen girl under a highway overpass crossing and Detective Jay's on the case. Oddly alone, but he's always promised help. For the next two hours, he peels back the onion layers on the case and town. This man, again of few words, is as mesmerizing as he is good looking, so that helps since you will stay with him ALL THE WAY 'til the end...of this Mystery Road. I don't even recall more than two shots not featuring him.

I guess, knowing now that there were two movies featuring Jay, I can recommend both as a double-feature night. But, best to start early as both are deliberately slow paced. At least they saved the best of the two for last.

***

Final thoughts: I guess there was a TV series based on this movie and I might watch someday, if it's available. I just now wanna re-watch Goldstone again as I loved it so much and since I know who that Mystery Detective featured in that film is.

Update: I just rewatched Goldstone. I originally gave it 4½/5 stars and now I'm surprised I didn't give it 5/5. If you watch Mystery Road first and then Goldstone, you'll see probably one of the biggest transformations of a character from original to sequel in history. Know his background, know where he came from in the original movie and then see him here, in Goldstone, the sequel and the weight of what he became, what he endured with his daughter...and this sequel, Goldstone becomes a near masterpiece. But, again, it must be watched with Mystery Road. So, I DO recommend a double feature. Funny, tho: Mystery Road is available on Prime while Goldstone is available on Netflix. Hope you have both because they're both worth the journey.