Jindabyne
Laura Linney, Gabriel Byrne, Deborra-Lee Furness, John Howard

IHAD great expectations when I entered the cinema to review this movie. They were never realised.

Jindabyne has been hailed as Australian director Ray Lawrence’s masterpiece, eclipsing his previous movie Lantana. But there is nothing brilliant or clever about this movie. Instead, it can be summed up in one word: bleak.

The colour in the movie is washed out, the countryside is very plain, and the story is full of unresolved issues that only serve to remind the viewer that life just gets tougher as you get older.

The story revolves mostly around Stewart (Byrne) and his wife Claire (Linney). Stewart is one of four men who find the body of a woman floating in an isolated river during their annual fishing trip.

Rather than hike out and report their find, the men stay for another day to fish. The Jindabyne community learns about the delay and vent their disgust at the fishermen for not immediately reporting the murder to the police.We then witness how the men and their partners deal with the situation.

The best part of the movie is the standout performance by Deborra-Lee Furness and John Howard, who play a couple mourning the loss of their daughter as they try to raise their granddaughter. Their gritty realism and their attempts to inject a bit of humour keep the movie from being a total dud.

Jindabyne is not a murder mystery, nor is it enlightening. It is a complicated art-house movie that serves to expose the dirty laundry that inhabits the lives and relationships of everyday people.


– LT Cameron Jamieson