Ivan Sen’s slow-burning, racially charged crime drama set in a sleepy town in the Australian Outback may prove to be a tough sell for a non-Aussie public. From his Euro-fest perspective, László Kriston watches Australian realities fold into genre.
You know that the director has his hands full when the movie he is presenting is in part a whodunit, in part a neo-noir, in part a social critique examining racial boundaries, in part a western, especially in the final section with the long-range shoot out. And you know that the filmmaker isn’t rushing things when the clues about the murder are introduced in the 38th, the 63th, the 71th and the 100th minutes. (Sorry, but I’m always been the kind of film journalist who tends to view movies with a stopwatch.)
