Strangerland

Starring: Nicole Kidman, Joseph Fiennes, Hugo Weaving, Maddison Brown, Sean Keenan, Nicholas Hamilton, Meyne Wyatt
Directed by: Kim Farrant
Rating: R
Genre: Drama, Thriller
2015

Times Seen:
Tim: 1

Summary: A wife (Nicole Kidman) and husband (Joseph Fiennes) are frantic when their children go missing during a dust storm. As the town searches for them, however, their secrets slowly bubble to the surface.

Review:

Tim: I was looking forward to Strangerland- I'd heard good things about it somewhere and it looked like the kind of small, easily missed drama that can offer up a surprisingly entertaining time. Unfortunately, the movie ends up being a bit of a mixed bag. There are certainly some points to get excited about, but there's even more flaws that ultimately sink the movie. It's okay, but I couldn't muster a whole lot of excitement about it.

One of the film's strengths is that there is a lot of mystery in the story. There's the central mystery of where are these two missing kids? Are they alive or dead? Did they run away or did something happen to them? And then, there's multiple other mysteries having to do with the family's past. Mystery is usually a great thing for a film to have- who doesn't want to have their questions answered? Yet, here's the thing about Strangerland- despite multiple ongoing mysteries, I never felt all that compelled to find out the answers. Sure, I was mildly interested in seeing how it all turned out, but I never really cared. Whether the kids were found alive or dead, or not at all, none of it made much a difference to me. That's partially because most of the characters are unlikable, partially because director Kim Farrant (making her feature film directorial debut) isn't able to draw a strong enough emotional connection between her characters and the audience. That is a massive drawback to this film- all of the drama and suspense is muted because we don't really care about the characters all that much.

The cast generally do good work and are easily the film's biggest strength. I feel like Nicole Kidman has done a lot of smaller films recently that I haven't gotten around to see. It was nice to see her here and was a good reminder that she does have some talent as an actress. She gets to show a wide range of emotion in a meaty role. She's the main character and has the most screen time, so it was pleasing to see her take advantage of this role. Joseph Fiennes was okay as her husband, but I feel like he's a better actor than showed up here. I didn't always buy his performance, but he generally worked. I loved seeing Hugo Weaving here in a smaller supporting role. The guy is always fantastic. He doesn't have a ton to do here, but he takes advantage of his limited screen time and does add to the movie. The rest of the supporting cast was surprisingly strong. I enjoyed Meyne Wyatt and Maddison Brown had a few good scenes. Again, the cast is strong.

The cinematography is good, but we did get a number of odd aerial shots of the Australian landscape for no real reason. It was pretty bizarre. I did enjoy the sandstorm scene- for having a small budget, it looked fairly good. It was a bit short, unfortunately. Now, there were a few odd moments and subplots that were never fully explored. The scenes about "the land" taking the kids was weird and really didn't add anything to the film, as we never get a payoff from it. The scene where Kidman walks (SPOILER ALERT) through town naked just felt completely unnecessary. Kidman also randomly asks a wide range of people to stop the car she's riding in. Seriously, it happens multiple times in the film and eventually became too distracting. There's a dozen or so moments throughout this film that just didn't make a whole lot of sense and obviously detract from the viewing experience.

So, while there are some worthwhile moments in Strangerland, there's too many flaws throughout the film that lessen the viewing experience. I wanted to like the film because of its potential, but in the end, this is too forgettable of a film. With a stronger director, this movie could have realized at least some of its potential.

Rating 1-10
Tim's Rating: 6



If You Enjoyed This Movie, We Recommend: Birth, The Others, Australia