Apart from a contrived ending, Jindabyne comes as close as can be to a perfect drama.
Jindabyne (2007)
Tomatometer
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Reviews Counted:93
Fresh:61
Rotten:32
Average Rating:6.5/10
Consensus: Jindabyne's disparate themes may not quite cohere, but the film features fine performances from Linney and Byrne.
Rated: 15 [See Full Rating] for disturbing images, language and some nudity.
Runtime: 2 hrs 3 mins
Genre: Dramas
Theatrical Release:25-05-2007
Synopsis: On an annual fishing trip, in isolated high country, Stewart, Carl, Rocco and Billy ('the Kid') find a girl's body in the river. It's too late in the day for them to hike back to the road and... On an annual fishing trip, in isolated high country, Stewart, Carl, Rocco and Billy ('the Kid') find a girl's body in the river. It's too late in the day for them to hike back to the road and report their tragic find. The next morning, instead of making the long trek back, they spend the day fishing. Their decision to stay on at the river is a little mysterious — almost as if the place itself is exerting some kind of magic over them. When the men finally return home to Jindabyne, and report finding the body, all hell breaks loose. Their wives can't understand how they could have gone fishing with the dead girl right there in the water — she needed their help. The men are confused — the girl was already dead, there was nothing they could do for her. Stewart's wife Claire is the last to know. As details filter out, and Stewart resists talking about what has happened, she is unnerved. There is a callousness about all of this which disturbs her deeply. Stewart is not convinced that he has done anything wrong. Claire's faith in her relationship with her husband is shaken to the core. The fishermen, their wives and their children are suddenly haunted by their own bad spirits. As public opinion builds against the actions of the men, their certainty about themselves and the decision they made at the river is challenged. They cannot undo what they have done. Only Claire understands that something fundamental is not being addressed. She wants to understand and tries to make things right. In her determination Claire sets herself not only against her own family and friends but also those of the dead girl. Her marriage is taken to the brink and her peaceful life with Stewart and their young son hangs in the balance. --© Sony Pictures Classics [More]
Starring: Laura Linney, Gabriel Byrne, Deborra-Lee Furness, John Howard
Starring: Laura Linney, Gabriel Byrne, Deborra-Lee Furness, John Howard, Leah Purcell, Stelios Yiakmis, Alice Garner, Simon Stone, Eva Lazarro, Sean Rees-Wemyss, Tatea Reilly, Betty Lucas, Chris Haywood
Director: Ray Lawrence
Director: Ray Lawrence
Screenwriter: Beatrix Christian
Story: Raymond Carver
Producer: Catherine Jarman
Composer: Paul Kelly, Dan Luscombe
Studio: Sony Pictures Classics
Reviews for Jindabyne
Impressively directed, thoroughly engaging drama with terrific performances and a superb script. This is one of the best films of the year.
The movie is beautifully shot, and succeeds in being deeply disturbing and mysterious, with richly achieved nuances of characterisation. I have seen it two or three times now, and each time it gets better.
A work of ambition and depth. Like Lantana, it is immaculately acted and Linney and Byrne are at their considerable best.
Despite a glacial exterior, this fine film holds us in its relentless grip.
A great idea is weighed down by an over-egged screenplay, but the setting and cast bring out its best.
[Director] Lawrence certainly knows how to bait his audience with intriguing characters.
The seamless overall blend of involving domestic turmoil and haunted national self-questioning is quite some achievement.
This kind of maturity and intelligence is all too infrequent in mainstream cinema -- let’s hope it’s not another six years until [director] Lawrence’s next film.
Less a moral dilemma than a meditation on the differences between men and women in matters of social decorum.
It’s not just that the clean, efficient lines of Carver’s story are blurred and tangled. The real flaw is that the movie’s best features -- the aching clarity of its central performances - threaten to be lost in a wilderness of metaphor and mystification.
Lawrence ... manages to keep the material compelling throughout ... .
Throughout Jindabyne, I felt completely creeped out. From the disturbing opening to images of children killing animals, adults abusing each other, and a corpse, the viewing experience was unpleasant.
The frustration here is that none of this leads anywhere. Perhaps that is the point, that some mysteries are never solved, but Jindabyne could give us a little more to work with.
Most of the new ideas grow naturally enough out of the original material. But they almost invariably amplify Carver's bleak worldview, and in a film that runs for more than two hours, that adds up to an oppressive sit.
While it's most certainly not light viewing, and it's entirely devoid of 'Hollywood moments', this is a fine, intelligent, troubling film.
Jindabyne is an eventful movie, but director Ray Lawrence gives the events a simple, plainspoken quality.
Latest News for Jindabyne
April 28, 2007:
Trailer & Poster review ![]()
More...
April 26, 2007:
Critical Consensus: This Film Is "Condemned"; "Next" Vexes; Guess "Invisible," "Kickin' It" Tomatometers!
This week at the movies, we've got clairvoyants ("Next," with Nicolas Cage and Julianne Moore), cons ("The Condemned," starring Steve Austin and Vinnie... More...
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