Naturally, not everyone sees it their way, starting with Stewart's wife Claire (Laura Linney) who we
learn left for 18 months after their son Tom was born, but while she's an interesting character she does tend
to take the whole situation to heart far more than she should and either they're meant to have a very fractured
relationship or the part has just been rather overwritten. While there are a fair number of other characters,
the only ones who stand out are Betty Lucas as Gabriel's mother Vanessa, who comes to stay but whom Laura
really doesn't get on with, and the children who play both Tom (Sean Rees-Wemyss) and his friend,
the oddly-named Caylin-Calandria (Eva Lazzaro), both of whom work so well in their roles together because
they remind you of a time when you were only a few years into your life, yourself, and those you knew of a
similar age were equally trying to find their way in life. The innocence as well as nastiness that such
friendships was also explored here, one scene involving them taking a knife into school and killing the guinea
pig.
There was also something about Leah Purcell who played Rocco's other half, Carmel, as a teacher at the
local school.
Aside from that, another plus for the film is some wonderful shots of the Australian outback and some interesting
slow-zooms on certain scenes, giving the subject a key importance, reminding me a bit of the camerawork in
Mad Max, with some excellent direction stirring up tension and that's required in a murder mystery when,
for the viewer, there is no mystery. We know who the killer is early on - he's an old man who's a loner,
and he's happy not to be found out if the heat can be taken by the main family in the film and their friends
who are all perceived as racist due to men's actions.
Overall, it's an engaging drama with some very good performances, but on reflection not a lot of it really
goes anywhere and the way it ends is rather ridiculous, since it attempts to find a conclusion whereas those
elements that didn't reach one felt more complete as Jindabyne plays out like a slice-of-life drama
from the characters' lives and, in life, there are no conclusions - certain aspects of your life come to an
end whereas many other parts of it just drift on.
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