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Undescribable Perfection

Pretty good movie overall. First half was nothing special but it got better as it went along.

At first rather annoying in its heavy emphasis on reenactments, this movie ultimately proves fascinating, simply because the complicated, highly dramatic tale it tells still almost defies belief.

The thing I enjoyed most about the film is the fact that it doesn't shy away from being a super-sized-cliche;

Ray Lawrence's Jindabyne is as haunting as motion pictures get, and hasn't left my thoughts since I saw it in a small independently run cinema some ten years ago. When a film is set in Australia, you know right of the bat it's going to have an eerie, striking story to tell. It's a vast, lonely place in areas, full of secrets and unexplored areas. Gabriel Byrne finds himself in a tricky situation of his own doing, playing an Irishman living in a small, isolated fishing village deep in the mountains. While on an expedition with his mates, he comes across something harrowing along a desolate stretch of river: the body of a murdered aboriginal girl. Here's where he makes a fatal mistake.. instead of reporting it instantly, he continues over the weekend with his trip, waits until he's back in town and then notifies the authorities, leaving her right there in the water. Once the details emerge, this causes a royal nightmare of controversy, racial tension and upset, including his wife (Laura Linney) who is horrified by the borderline inaction on his part. Was he wrong? Definitely. These snap decisions during times of great stress are common though, reactionary function not always falling into the place of logic, resulting in a mess such as this. Now as you can tell by my review, most of the film focuses on his actions and their repercussions, not so much on who killed the girl, or why. We see her in an unnerving prologue on some faraway highway, lured to a rest stop by a mysterious trucker, and then we see her alive no more. The trucker appears again throughout the film on the fringes of the main story, but never are we given clarification or catharsis to the murder side of the plot. That to me is an ultimate mood setter and thorn in the side of resolution. The cumulative result of her being found is simply an unrest hanging over the region like a blanket of uncertainty, matters only clouded further by Byrne and the storm he created by not acting right off the bat. Uncomfortable viewing, but beautifully made and not a film one soon forgets after viewing.

An Aussie gem that contrasts heavily dark thematic undertones with the serenely quiet seeming landscape. For movie that has little to do with murder, and more to do with the emotionally strained relationships of the characters within, it is impressive that the filmmakers/screenwriter was able to capture this tension with the minimal use of dialogue.Action was character driven and thought provoking - brilliantly performed. The takes are long in most cases and I can see why some people find this movie slow, but the effect of these longer takes is that it enables a poetic tension to build and allows for performance to take over. In a cinematic world where we are used to rapid cutting, witty fast-paced dialogue and over-used movement shots, it is reassuring to see a film that is successful at achieving an engaging story through employing simplicity.

The acting of Gabriel Byrne and Laura Linney (who play a married couple) is extremely good. The actual film is O.K., but one has to ask why it did so poorly...particularly in America. The answer (I believe) is the case of the missing scene. When four men find a young ladies dead body during a fishing expedition, they just go ahead with their fishing. No communication, no debate about what would be the correct course of action--nothing.! It is true however, that some Aussie "blokes" would just carry on with their watery activity. Whatever--I am sure this--and some other typically Aussie bloke activities may have confused the global audience. Anyway this movie has a spooky atmosphere from start to finish--like there is some impending doom on the horizon. It has the power to unsettle the viewer. There are some rather ridiculous interactions between Aboriginals and whites, but generally its an effective drama / murder story.

Forget that this film has too many metaphors and undeveloped subplots. Yes, it's flawed. But it effectively conveys the feeling of guilt and human powerlessness to the viewer. Perhaps the biggest flaw in the movie lies in the two children's relationship (Tom and Caylin-Calandria). It's muddy and a bit far-fetched. But the rest of the film works brilliantly and, of course, some great acting by Byrne and Linney don't hurt the cause. The cinematography is also top-notch. That so much is unresolved is also the point of the film - life doesn't give us the answers and we have to face the consequences of our actions.