New Moon is nothing if not an international advertisement for the hungry virtues of virginity and young people can’t get enough of it
The Twilight Saga: New Moon
Theatre
A smart, prickly and rewarding view of sexual and emotional confusion
Cock
Restaurants
Kitchen W8 is a bargain for this area, if such sophistication is what you crave
Kitchen W8
Too long and drawn out but very entertaining with excellent special effects
This is a peculiar play and does not work for me. Some of it is very funny but there are real flaws
Alex has a strong powerful voice and was faultless, she is far better now than she was on the X-Factor
London,
Nick Curtis's rating
Reader rating
Dir: Ray Lawrence.
Cast: Laura Linney, Gabriel Byrne, Simon Stone, John Howard, Stelios Yiakmis
Description: During a fishing expedition, four fishing buddies - Stewart, Billy, Carl and Rocco - make a shocking discovery: the body of an Aborigine girl lifeless in the river. Rather than report their horrendous find to the police straightaway, the men decide to continue with their day's fishing for trout; a decision which ignites racial tensions in their hometown and threatens the marriage of Stewart and his caring wife Claire. As hostility to the buddies grows, Stewart is forced to justify himself to his family and make amends to the family of the dead girl.
Country: AUSTRALIA. 2006. 124mins
Communication breakdown: Laura Linney and Gabriel Byrne
Australian Ray Lawrence's dip into the tensions that lurk beneath everyday lives, adapted from a Raymond Carver short story, has superficial similarities to the director's 2001 murder-mystery hit, Lantana, but is rather more sombre, thoughtful and, alas, ponderous.
Garage-owner Stewart (Gabriel Byrne), out for a weekend's fishing with three male, white friends (wives, girlfriends and mobile phones not allowed) finds the raped and murdered body of an Aborigine girl in the river. After some anguished discussion, they tether her in the shallows, go back to catching fish and report the discovery when they get home.
This callous decision splits the town of Jindabyne down angry racial lines and opens up the guts of the couples involved as surely and horribly as a fishknife.
When Stewart's wife, Claire (Laura Linney), expresses her uncomprehending revulsion at his actions, he unleashes years of unspoken frustration on her, and cruel resentments over her behaviour after the birth of their son.
The acting by both Byrne and Linney is nicely understated, she putting a world of confused hurt in her eyes, he fuming with suppressed anger and a repressed mid-life crisis.
Lawrence shot wherever possible with natural light so the whole film looks realistically drab and washed out. Jindabyne, though, is a town squatting above an earlier, drowned settlement, flooded by a dam in the name of progress: a heavy-handed metaphor if ever I saw one. And the murderer lurks around the corners of the story, like a red herring or, worse, an irrelevance.
On one level, this is a film about the inability of any of us, regardless of gender, to communicate, and about getting beyond that, getting by. On another level, it's about recondite sexual and racial attitudes in Australia.
You don't need to care about the latter to enjoy it, but you do need to care about the former. And, though it pains me to say it, Jindabyne is also about 30 minutes too long. Sad that such a deft and succinct short story should become such an attenuated, hard-going film.
Details are correct at the time of publication - please check with venue before booking.
I do agree with the above review that the film is about 30 mins too long. But that said, it is consistently interesting and gripping. All actors are utterly convincing and you do care for them. It is a very good description of another way of life deep in the remoteness of Australia. The tensions between the races are well observed and not overblown. A movie definitely worth seeing and enjoyable if not 'major'.
- Josephine, London
Tonight:
9°c
