Director: Kim Farrant
Cast: Nicole Kidman, Joseph Fiennes, Hugo Weaving, Meyne Wyatt
Running Time: 112 mins
STRANGERLAND is a rather bleak story about two siblings who go missing in the Australian outback. The town works together to try to find the teenagers, but rumours begin to spread about the family’s past.
The film begins by showing a somewhat sad family experience – everyone is getting ready for school and work, but no one appears to be on good terms with anyone and the whole atmosphere is uncomfortable and tense. This initial feeling sums up the entire film. This is not supposed to be a feel-good film, but it is very much a joyless experience.
It is established early on that Lily (Maddison Brown) is not your typical rebellious teenager, her actions from the beginning are deeply concerning to her parents. Tom (Nicholas Hamilton) also shows some peculiar signs, being unable to sleep and wandering the streets alone at night. The teenagers leave their house one night and fail to return the next day, causing their parents to initially worry about the town finding out about their past.Â
Strangerland is shot beautifully, some of the establishing shots of the Australian landscape and excellent. Director Kim Farrant manages to capture the beauty of this area, but also portray its barren nature. This is the strongest aspect of the film, although all of the performances here are great. Hugo Weaving in particular gives the best performance of the film as the small-town police officer tasked with finding these children.Â
One of the major issues with Strangerland is that the main characters are written in a rather bizarre fashion. The family is quite dysfunctional; Nicole Kidman plays a needy and somewhat unstable mother, and Joseph Fiennes plays a father with anger and alcohol issues. The family move from their home after the scandal caused by their daughter having a sexual relationship with her teacher, but they realise she may have suffered more psychological damage from this than previously thought. Literally every female character in this film is portrayed as a neurotic and crazed person, which is quite irritating. Even the girlfriend of the detective is shown to be like this!Â
The film is about damaged people and their relationships. However, every single character in Strangerland is damaged. It just feels like you are watching a car crash slowly take place. This, along with the ending, could have a lasting impact on you. The family try to keep their secrets hidden, but soon realise their new neighbours are already beginning to speculate on their private lives. The film is very much about family secrets and the intimate issues within everyone.Â
Overall, Strangerland is a bleak experience. It is shot very well and has an interesting collection of characters. However, the narrative is very slow and fails to come to a satisfying close.Â
Verdict
