Jindabyne (2006)

Director:

Ray Lawrence

Writers:

Raymond Carver (short story "So Much Water So Close to Home")
Beatrix Christian (written by)

Release Date:

20 July 2006 (Australia)

Genre:

Crime | Drama | Mystery | Thriller

Tagline:

Under the surface of every life lies a mystery

Plot:

Stewart Kane, an Irishman living in the Australian town of Jindabyne, is on a fishing trip in isolated...

Plot Keywords:

Fishing | Town | River | Fishing Trip | Park

Awards:

11 wins & 19 nominations

Cast

Chris Haywood	...	Gregory
Tatea Reilly	...	Susan
Laura Linney	...	Claire
Sean Rees-Wemyss	...	Tom
Gabriel Byrne	...	Stewart Kane
Deborra-Lee Furness	...	Jude
John Howard	...	Carl
Eva Lazzaro	...	Caylin-Calandria
Maya Daniels	...	Caylin-Calandria's Mother
Bob Baines	...	Doctor #1
Max Cullen	...	Terry
Stelios Yiakmis	...	Rocco
Simon Stone	...	Billy 'The Kid'
Victoria Allen	...	Girl at Garage
Leah Purcell	...	Carmel

MPAA:

Rated R for disturbing images, language and some nudity.

Runtime:

USA:123 min | France:123 min (Cannes Film Festival) | Norway:118 min (DVD censored version)

Country:

Australia

Language:

English | Irish Gaelic

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1

Sound Mix:

Dolby Digital

Certification:

Australia:M | USA:R | Sweden:11 | Switzerland:14 (canton of Geneva) | Switzerland:14 (canton of Vaud) | Ireland:15A | Finland:K-13 | Singapore:NC-16 | Portugal:M/12 | Germany:12 | Iceland:12 | New Zealand:M

Filming Locations:

Jindabyne, New South Wales, Australia

Company:

April Films

Trivia:

The screenplay is based on the short story "So much water so close to home" by American writer Raymond Carver. The song "Everything's Turning to White" by Australian singer-songwriter Paul Kelly was also inspired by Carver's story.

Goofs:

Errors in geography: The telephone number on the door of Gregory's, the electrician, Land Rover starts with '70'. This cannot be a Jindabyne telephone number as they start with '64' in that part of N.S.W., Australia. (Note that the code ‘70’ is a special prefix for movie use. It is issued by the Australian Media and Communications Aurtority).

Movie Connections:

Version of Short Cuts (1993)

A sublime film

Ray Lawrence has done it again. This film has made me see the Australian landscape in a way that I haven't really since seeing Picnic at Hanging Rock. The feeling as the lads start on the fishing trip is somewhat Hitchcockian, since we know that we're going to see the body sometime soon - we just don't know when. There's a sense of oppression and expectation overlaid on the natural beauty, that holds you transfixed.

The film may be criticised since it doesn't try and resolve anything on a a material level. However, Lawrence is more interested in the internal lives of his characters - all of them. He also doesn't want to hand us the exposition on a platter. There's back-stories that are unfolded gradually, making us think about the characters as we are pointed to knowledge of what lead them to their current lives. I'm glad to see a film made for people to think about, rather than spoon-feeding us some clichés about how hard life can be for the protagonists.

Water plays a significant role throughout the movie, from the river where the fishermen find the body, to Lake Jindabyne, and the ghost stories about the drowned town. We're made to dive into the lives of the characters, finding deeper and deeper layers of motivation as we move from the warm surface of their lives to the colder and more fragile hidden depths. We see that the body in the river acts as a sort of stand-in for each character's transformation in a death and rebirth of the spirit.

This is another masterpiece work from a master film maker.