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It is a whirlwind of delight --- attractive actors, stunning couture, spectacular sets and outrageous parties.

This is a dark and sometimes deeply uncomfortable drama

A clunky actioner with a handful of cool moments.

The film never slows down or bores, plunging from one harrowing sequence to the next.

This has divided our household. I was disappointed while my partner thought it was another Japanese Story (same writer/director). The movie is broken into different perspectives (chapters based on differing characters)The first part of the story (Grace's story) felt very teen angst. Girls on a bus running away. It ends with a penniless girl trying to walk the Nullabor. It made no sense. We do not know why the ran away or get anything from this action. The bulk of the movie is of other characters' stories. They overlap but better storytellers use the later stories to enhance what you have just seen. This is only lightly done. Some of the scenes are quite funny, and this should have been the heart of the movie. A little like "The Road to Nhill".The final act the writer falls back to Japanese Story and throws a huge curve ball. Once is interesting, Toni Collette acted the crap out of JS, but to me, it was a cheap letdown to do the same concept twice.The acting was competent based on what they were given. Terry Norris is a star. The non-teen stars did excellent comedic turns even in the face of their child running away to who knows where. She may have been kidnapped and the tone is light. So when you are expected to get to the change, it does not feel right.The outback, anyone watching Australian movies sees more outback in the cinema they could care to see. In this case, the DP could have used warmer tones, wider shots. Just look at Ivan Sen's Goldstone. If you are going to use it. don't be lazy.

My wife and I endured an hour of "Looking for Grace" before we both conceded that life is too short to waste on crap like this and walked out of the cinema. The acting was tedious, the pacing horrendous, the script a dogs breakfast and it was just a painful experience. The timing of the actors was shocking, it was like watching the early rehearsals of a poorly directed stage play, I think the director was on sleeping tablets at the time of the directing! Australian movies have enough trouble drawing big audiences which is wrong,our movies are up there with the best in the world, this dud however is not in that category and will certainly not attract too many "bums" on seats.

One of the classic tropes of Australian film is the random and ever-present potential for destruction that is represented cinematically by the vastness and untamed beauty of our unique landscapes. It is sometimes shown, for example, as mystical power (eg: Picnic at Hanging Rock), dystopian violence (The Rover), terror (Wolf Creek), images of deadly bushfires or road-kill scattered over lonely country roads. Looking for Grace builds on this tradition and explores random destruction in a novel way by taking a simple plot line and splitting into separate narratives that converge with deadly force.Five stories unfold in parallel as sign-posted chapters, each telling the same story but from a different viewpoint. The narrative arc turns on rebellious 16 year-old Grace who empties her father's safe and hops on a coach for a heavy metal concert a few days from home. While chance plays a part, meeting a boy, losing her virginity, and being robbed is a predictable tale for many run-aways. What is not predictable is how the four other stories overlap hers. The unfaithful father seems more concerned about the cash than his daughter and the over-controlling mother is pathetically funny keeping up appearances in the midst of a missing person investigation. The doddery old private detective hired to find Grace (and the money) worries about the whiteness of his false teeth and says the most obvious things in funny ways. And there is the seemingly disconnected story about the road-train driver who bookends the film and ties five random tales into a single Aussie yarn.The cinematography is superb and it carries the film. From lovingly long panoramic landscapes, to backlit gum trees, golden sunrises, the sharp detail of a furtive glance in shallow depth of field, the camera-work is beautifully crafted and quintessentially Australian. Acting is excellent although based more on good casting than fine performance – there is little room for character development in a film cut five ways. It is also deliberately slow in parts; rather than looking like parents in crisis we see dad's clumsy preoccupation with his own guilt, mum's growing anxiety about her marriage and looking good in gym wear, and Grace just takes her time like any teenager. Minor reservations aside, this is an engaging tale told in the finest Aussie tradition.

Sue Brooks films are always refreshing, stylish, and unmistakably Australian. Looking for Grace does justice to Brooks fine understanding of the complexities of the human condition and the struggles and subsequent lessons encountered within family life. This is a bold and insightful film, paced in Brooks unique style. I found this film immensely satisfying despite the fact that the interweaving of the characters personal stories confused me a little at times this technique did not detract from the films overall intrigue. The all Australian cast was well chosen and the cinematography captured the desolate emptiness of the desert landscape and added strength to the metaphor of distance within this small family's relationships. This is a great film!