🎬 #116 Haunting Australian Barrenness.

I mentioned one of the following films in a newsletter last Christmas, which was only a passing recommendation, so I wanted to go into a bit more detail about why I really enjoyed it. Both this week’s films are the product of Australian filmmakers. And you can feel the harsh empty landscape bleed into every facet of the mood, the characters of the film, the brutality of the action. Wild in spirit.

Happy choosing, happy viewing

Bry

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FILM ONE: THE STRANGER

2022 Dir Thomas M. Wright
1hr 57 mins

The Stranger harnesses the vastness of the Australian setting to heighten its intense psychological drama. The film, which delves into the depths of an undercover investigation into a decade-old crime, uses its setting to mirror the isolation and concealment central to the plot. The landscapes here are less about desolation and more about the isolation that mirrors the protagonist’s internal journey and the unfolding mystery. The settings are expansive yet confining, reflecting the psychological cages that the characters navigate, making the landscape an integral part of the film’s tense atmosphere. Like the environment of The Rover, the landscape here reminds us that we’re tiny - the scale also a glaring reminder that people can get away with things out here. There is space to conceal actions and there is space to keep them hidden for years.

There’s a Persona-like blending of the characters - the cop and the suspect, becoming one and the same. There’s an intimacy within an overbearingly vast space that through human intervention these men find each other. These characters feel born out of it of the dark intensity of the landscape. They feel hewn from it. It’s a slow burning drama, that blends human and environment together. For me, elements of it also call to mind Picnic At Hanging Rock - a fantastic Peter Weir film. There’s a darkly enchanting, mysterious effect of the natural world on the beings who walk amongst it.

TL;DR: Thomas M. Wright’s film conjures up a haunting mood, in a kind of nauseating overbearing tragedy of the dark sides of human nature.

*Available on Netflix and for a small rental fee on Apple, Google & YouTube in the US and the UK.

Fact: This is the third film that Sean Harris and Joel Edgerton have appeared in together.

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FILM TWO: THE ROVER

2014 Dir David Michôd
1hr 43 mins

In "The Rover," the Australian outback is the film. The environment is overbearing, always present. It makes us feel insignificant in relation to it - underneath it all, we know that when we’re gone, the environment will remain. As the story unfolds we’re presented with a dystopian future where society has largely collapsed, and the remnants of humanity cling to survival in a desolate, unforgiving landscape. The vast, empty expanses reflect the loneliness and despair of the characters, particularly Guy Pearce's hardened survivor, whose journey across this barren wilderness is as much about his internal struggles as it is about his external conflict. The outback's oppressive heat and unyielding terrain amplify the sense of desperation, making the story’s exploration of human resilience and moral ambiguity all the more poignant.

The central relationship in the film has shades of Lennie and George from of Mice and Men. Just more hardened, more brutal. The world of the film isn’t science-fiction. It’s like if Mad Max really happened, how quickly desperation can strip us of our humanity. This is a reminder that we’re animals underneath all the socialisation, we’ll fight to protect what’s ours, we'll stalk the landscape like scavengers just to survive.

TL;DR: Michôd puts us into the searing, gritty heat of the outback, as one man takes care of another on a journey to retrieve something he desperately needs.

*Available for a small rental fee on Amazon, Apple, Google and YouTube in the US and the UK.

Fact: Guy Pearce’s character is referred to as Eric in the credits but is never actually named in the film. Hinting at the dehumanising effects of societal collapse.