Isolate is mesmerising. The landscape in the film is exquisite - a really stunningly captured depiction of the Australian countryside - both beautiful, then at times, frighteningly isolating.
It is the story of a woman who is searching for her dad. It seems straightforward. We think he has perhaps killed himself and there are story events that suggests that has happened, but without wanting to create the need for a spoiler alert, the narrative is much more complicated than it first appears.
The film is a slow burn drama, but it is far more menacing than that. At times it is really unnerving. The landscape, beautiful by day, becomes threatening at night as the protagonist, who is alone, is confronted with having to deal with what might be in the darkness and what might be in the blackness of her thoughts.
It reminds me of a certain style of Italian films of the last century, which deal with the search for something or someone lost, where we think we are watching a particular narrative, but are taken on a journey unexpected.
In a way, the protagonist has a child-like innocence to her. She holds strong to complex grey-scale issues with the vehemence of black and white simplicity, and this leads to her stance being severely tested in the film. This difficult and painful dichotomy is portrayed with absolute honesty by the lead actress and it is the sincerity of her performance that elevates this film beyond the humble and simple, to the sublime.
Overall, there's something very familiar and beautiful about this style of storytelling, it taps into a tradition of storytelling gone by, while creating a new Australian filmmaking perspective.
It is a gut-wrenching film. It left me feeling so extraordinarily sad for all the people involved.
I think it's really something worth watching – a unique stance, not something I would think of as a typically Australian film.
