Movies

A real treat of a Western - gritty, bloody, unjust & riddled with flies. An apocalyptic glimpse of some hard family lessons from Nick Cave. Brilliant performances all round thanks to Ray Winstone, Emily Watson & Guy Pearce in particular. Visually stunning due to the location (anyone with the ability to remove a lens cap or activate a camera would capture something beautiful in that wonderful country Australia! But these scenes just envelope you and burn into your brain - in a good way). Tempting to add more to this scant comment box but it might just take something away from your viewing pleasure. And that would be a travesty because this is definitely a film to go in "fresh" to.

I don't enjoy violence in movies, especially if it's unnecessary. But this movie was justified in its use. Calling this movie very violent or bloody is misunderstanding the movie - it's taking the focus away from what matters in the movie: the landscape, the directing, the music, the characters as they are being acted out the story as it's unfolding. The violence connects you with the feelings and thoughts of the characters and conveys the the mood of the era - I came away feeling as if I had experienced living in "wild" Queensland. The story is simple but it's very well executed. And needless to say, I've learned from every single Guy Pearce movie I've seen. Ray Winstone was incredible, Emily Watson very effective, and John Hurt was a pleasurable bonus.The ending is poetic and beautifully done.

Just superb - wonderful, austere direction that gets the best from a great cast and some extraordinary landscapes. A tight, disciplined script from Nick Cave that's testament to how his writing continues to reach new levels - not to mention his collaboration with Warren Ellis on the beautifully uneasy score. There's a fantastic blend of European and Australian sensibilities here that makes this the least clichéd film to come out of this country for 20-odd years - and if it doesn't do well, it'll be because an increasingly soft and gutless nation is afraid to venture out of their frappuccino and mortgage comfort zone. This is powerful, worthy art.