IN THE WINTER DARK (Australian)
A review by Mark R. Leeper in bullet-list form
from the Toronto Internation Film Festival
CAPSULE: In an isolated part of the Australian outback a mysterious creature is preying on farm animals. An older farmer leads four local people into a journey of their inner fears as they try to find the source of the animal mutilations. Dark is indeed this story of natural and unnatural evils. Rating: 7 (0 to 10), 2 (-4 to +4)
- Directed by James Bogle who co-wrote the screenplay. - Four people are living in this remote region of the outback: Morris and Ida, an older farmer who has seen his share of evil done by nature and his strange wife. Then there is Murray Jacob, an inexperienced farmer. Finally there is Ronnie, a semi-hippie from the city whose husband has abandoned her. - Based on a novel by popular Australian novelist Tim Winton. - The film was five years in the making, made for three million Australian dollars-something like one and a half million American dollars. - Ida is played by Brenda Blethyn of SECRETS AND LIES. - Moody photography. Score by Peter Cobbin long on ominous strings. - Morris finds what may be a footprint of the beast, but this as almost everything else is ambiguous. - Morris and Ida lost a child to some unknown animal. - Could be one animal or coincidence and several animals. - Nature is a force to be feared, not a benevolent being. - Tension under the surface of people dealing with each other. - Everyone drinks for recreation. - Morris to Ronnie in labor: "You can't have that baby right now. You have to wait for the authorities." - Some echoes of Moby Dick.
Mark R. Leeper
mleeper@lucent.com
Copyright 1998 Mark R. Leeper
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