Jindabyne (2006)

User Rating:

6.4/10   

Director:

Ray Lawrence

Writers:

Raymond Carver (short story "So Much Water So Close to Home")
Beatrix Christian (written by)

Release Date:

20 July 2006 (Australia)

Genre:

Crime | Drama | Mystery | Thriller

Tagline:

Under the surface of every life lies a mystery

Plot:

Stewart Kane, an Irishman living in the Australian town of Jindabyne, is on a fishing trip in isolated...

Plot Keywords:

Fishing | Town | River | Fishing Trip | Park

Awards:

11 wins & 19 nominations

Cast

Chris Haywood	...	Gregory
Tatea Reilly	...	Susan
Laura Linney	...	Claire
Sean Rees-Wemyss	...	Tom
Gabriel Byrne	...	Stewart Kane
Deborra-Lee Furness	...	Jude
John Howard	...	Carl
Eva Lazzaro	...	Caylin-Calandria
Maya Daniels	...	Caylin-Calandria's Mother
Bob Baines	...	Doctor #1
Max Cullen	...	Terry
Stelios Yiakmis	...	Rocco
Simon Stone	...	Billy 'The Kid'
Victoria Allen	...	Girl at Garage
Leah Purcell	...	Carmel

Also Known As:

Fonos ex' ameleias (Greece) (DVD title) [el]
Jindabyne - Irgendwo in Australien (Germany) [de]
Jindabyne, Australie (France) [fr]

MPAA:

Rated R for disturbing images, language and some nudity.

Runtime:

USA:123 min | France:123 min (Cannes Film Festival) | Norway:118 min (DVD censored version)

Country:

Australia

Language:

English | Irish Gaelic

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1

Sound Mix:

Dolby Digital

Certification:

Australia:M | USA:R | Sweden:11 | Switzerland:14 (canton of Vaud) | Switzerland:14 (canton of Geneva) | Ireland:15A | Finland:K-13 | Singapore:NC-16 | Portugal:M/12 | Germany:12 | Iceland:12 | New Zealand:M

Filming Locations:

Jindabyne, New South Wales, Australia

Company:

April Films

Trivia:

The 'P' plate that is taken by the murderer from the young girl's concealed vehicle, is one of Australia's provisional licence placards. A person who has just got their licence is on P plates for 3 years and have certain restrictions.

Goofs:

Continuity: Just before the fishing trip, Stewart dyes his graying hair black. At the river, the gray reappears, but his hair inexplicably turns jet-black again upon his return.

Movie Connections:

Featured in "Getaway: (#15.30)" (2006)

A sublime film

Ray Lawrence has done it again. This film has made me see the Australian landscape in a way that I haven't really since seeing Picnic at Hanging Rock. The feeling as the lads start on the fishing trip is somewhat Hitchcockian, since we know that we're going to see the body sometime soon - we just don't know when. There's a sense of oppression and expectation overlaid on the natural beauty, that holds you transfixed.

The film may be criticised since it doesn't try and resolve anything on a a material level. However, Lawrence is more interested in the internal lives of his characters - all of them. He also doesn't want to hand us the exposition on a platter. There's back-stories that are unfolded gradually, making us think about the characters as we are pointed to knowledge of what lead them to their current lives. I'm glad to see a film made for people to think about, rather than spoon-feeding us some clichés about how hard life can be for the protagonists.

Water plays a significant role throughout the movie, from the river where the fishermen find the body, to Lake Jindabyne, and the ghost stories about the drowned town. We're made to dive into the lives of the characters, finding deeper and deeper layers of motivation as we move from the warm surface of their lives to the colder and more fragile hidden depths. We see that the body in the river acts as a sort of stand-in for each character's transformation in a death and rebirth of the spirit.

This is another masterpiece work from a master film maker.