Jindabyne

In the Australian town of Jindabyne, the former race champion Stewart Kane (Gabriel Byrne) works in a gas station with his partners and friends Carl (John Howard), Rocco (Stelios Yiakmis) and Billy (Simon Stone). His impassionate marriage with the unstable Claire (Laura Linney) has an unresolved issue since Claire left him when their son Tom (Sean Rees-Wemyss) was born. The great passion of Stewart is fishing and he organizes a weekend fishing trip in a remote river with his three great friends. On Friday afternoon, they park the car and hike and camp in the spot; while fishing, Stewart finds the naked dead body of an aboriginal young woman floating on the cold water. Stewart ties the leg of the woman to an arbor and they spend the weekend fishing. On Sunday afternoon, they return to the parking area and report their finding to the police. When the press releases the information, their public and private lives are deeply affected and the disturbed Claire questions Stewart's attitude while trying to help and apologize with the family of the dead aborigine.

"Jindabyne" has a storyline of great potential, with a morbid and polemic study of moral aspects of human (and consequently flawed) characters. Unfortunately the screenplay is not good and looses the focus of the main storyline entwined with many parallel and unresolved plots of supporting characters. Why Caylin-Calandria has such weird and morbid behavior? (It seems that because of the death of her mother, but it is never clear). The character of the old man that killed the aborigine is not developed. Why Claire became dysfunctional with the birth of her son? Why Stewart is still married with Claire? The attitude of Claire against her husband is annoying and in Brazil we have a saying that states "with a friend (or in this case wife) like that, Stewart does not need enemies". Anyway, the locations in Australia are stunning, the cast has great acting and it is worth watching this movie. My vote is seven.

Title (Brazil): Not Available

This film is about a group of 4 men who discovers a dead body during a fishing trip. They continue fishing instead of reporting it to the police. This sparks outrage in the village, and the 4 men have to deal with the aftermath.

The character development is excellent. Each character is unique and different. Laura Linney deals with the tragedy by doing good deeds to redeem herself, while Gabriel Byrne deals with it by denial. The little girl, with an unfortunately unusual name, is provocatively antisocial. Billy is the histrionic one. Each character is different from another, and the interaction of them in the film is portrayed beautifully and convincingly in the film.

Laura Linney does the best job in the film. She is so convincing in her genuine attempt to redeem her husband's wrongdoings. The frustration that results from her husband's denial is painfully portrayed. The scene where she throws the vase at the ground is also a memorable display of emotion.

A comment says the film is dull. I am afraid I do not agree. This film is about the portrayal of different personalities when morality is in danger. The characters are so intriguing and complex, that just this alone makes viewing worthwhile.

Jindabyne is in the southeast corner of New South Wales, Australia. A disturbed man kills a young aboriginal woman. Stewart Kane (Gabriel Byrne) and Claire (Laura Linney) have issues in their marriage. Stewart goes on a fishing trip with his friends Carl, Rocco, and Billy. Stewart finds the dead woman's body near their campsite. The men decide to continue fishing for the rest of the weekend.

The movie is trying to include a lot of stuff. The best that I can distill this into is a moral decay and callousness. Stewart and Claire are struggling with a loss that has sapped their joy. She discovers that she's pregnant. The crazy man ranting about electricity just adds to the generalized sense of unease along with the constant haunting music. It starts as an eerie murder mystery. If there is any scene that could galvanize the entire movie, it is Stewart discovering the body. The movie needs to spend more time with the four men discussing what to do. This movie needs clarity. The characters leave a lot unsaid which is frustrating. It's also a missed opportunity. Later, the movie tries to play the race card. In order for that to work, it needs to be set up better. For non-locals, it can come out of nowhere. This movie needs to concentrate on the primary issue and focus on it. Maybe the movie should start with the fishing trip first. It also brings back the crazy man which leaves the movie ending unsatisfying. This movie has a lot to say. It may be too much.

I recently saw Jindabyne in Cannes and it is a brilliant movie. Thanks to a wonderful cast and Ray Lawrence the script comes alive on the screen.

Four fishing buddies find a dead girl in the river. They don't report their find until a few days later. This causes anger and disappointment from their families and the rest of the town; reactions they don't seem capable of understanding.

Byrne and Linney, especially, turn every line and every second into an intense moment. They're human beings, and it shows. You understand why their characters act like they do, but you don't always accept it.

With no fault to the actors (they all put on great performances), the overall story was not very well executed. The movie opens with a great zinger: a crazy old guy forces a young Aborigine girl's car off the road. But then, we're forced to endure 40 minutes of character development with an entirely new group of characters ... and we don't know why until the 40 minutes are up. It turns out that they are the ones who eventually discover the girl's body ... and the story progresses from there.

While the story does pick up at that point, it really goes nowhere. After 2 hours, I asked myself: was there a point to this, or was it just to see the characters struggle with accusations of racism and stupidity of how they handled the discovery? The story was ultimately unsatisfying and felt unfinished. While it is well acted, there's not a strong enough backbone in the film to warrant recommending it.