Jindabyne (2006)

Featured Audience Ratings

• Red L

  
  This is a difficult movie to watch. Understanding Stewart's and Claire's relationship isn't easy. The story is not really about the girl's murder, yet we keep seeing the murderer weave in and out of the movie. I will have to watch it a second time to try to… More
  This is a difficult movie to watch. Understanding Stewart's and Claire's relationship isn't easy. The story is not really about the girl's murder, yet we keep seeing the murderer weave in and out of the movie. I will have to watch it a second time to try to understand it I thought I had seen this movie before, but it was part of the movie 'Short Cuts' I remembered (based on the same short story by Raymond Carver).

• paul s

  
  here is a case of an intimate film that tries to encompass too much. A simple morality tale; of not doing what society will have you believe to be the "right thing" and the conseqences of not only your actions, but the mores society places on you. The film attempts to… More
  here is a case of an intimate film that tries to encompass too much. A simple morality tale; of not doing what society will have you believe to be the "right thing" and the conseqences of not only your actions, but the mores society places on you. The film attempts to instill a sense of displacement; all of the charactors are trying to make the best of things, even though they are clinging to symbolic gestures and icons of attachment to time, place, and the people around them. In truth, an almost existential tone pervades this effort, and as such, it could have held its ground; but the spiritual overtones are devisive and distracting. The impetus of the film comes from four fishing buddies who discover a recently dead body while on their much anticipated yearly fishing trip. Rather than make the day hike out of the canyon to report the body, they spend the weekend as they normally would, and only report the incident after leaving at their normal time. The truth eventually comes out and the community and family are outraged by their callous insensitivity; ignoring that the girl was already dead so it would make no difference to her (and in such a remote location it wasn't as if the delay would have made any difference in potentially catching the killer - and at this point no-one has any idea of how she died). The fisherman believe they've done enough by simply tying her to a tree limb so her body wouldn't float downstream and over a waterfall, and it is ironic that this bow to "humanity" leads to the discovery of their "insensitivity" and sets off a chain reaction of hate. Of course the real issue is that the dead girl was an Aboriginie, so their neglect appears to be racial (when it was really just a snap reaction to having to waste their only time off in order to report their findings). Laura Linney, as one of the wives of the fisherman, then goes on a Quixonic quest to appease her own sense of self as much as appeasing the Aboriginal population. This takes her to the Aboriginal "funeral", a sequence that goes on way too long and is ackward - perhaps by intention. The undercurrent to all this surface action is the sense of disenfrancisement - even the city itself, Jindabyne, was moved from its original location because it was in the way of a new reservoir. There are plenty of scenes of the children facing the dangers of the unknown swimming and playing in and around the reservoir, many of which seem to interupt the narrative, and serving the sole purpose of reminding the viewer that we're all just fish out of water. I admire the vision, but felt that the execution could have been tighter.

• Gordon A

  
  Beautifully shot outback drama which captures the countryside in all its glory. Unfortunately the plot meanders on for way too long and even Laura Linney can't sustain your interest.

• Drew S

  
  Jindabyne is overstuffed with far too many small, great stories. It would have done best putting the primary focus on Laura Linney and Gabriel Byrne's tumultuous marriage, but instead we get subplots about aboriginal racism, serial killers, fishing, and evil little children. Not… More
  Jindabyne is overstuffed with far too many small, great stories. It would have done best putting the primary focus on Laura Linney and Gabriel Byrne's tumultuous marriage, but instead we get subplots about aboriginal racism, serial killers, fishing, and evil little children. Not that any of those would make for a particularly bad movie (except for fishing - but in this context it works), but they all seem to be fighting for a moment in the sun when they would have best served their purpose as dramatic devices. Jindabyne's just a case of one film trying to be too much. It really is a shame, because there is so much to enjoy about what we get here. Linney is stunning as always, and Byrne is frigid and remarkable; all the other performances are equally resonant. The movie itself is eerie and almost moribund; its atmosphere is great. A subtle, haunting score and the plains of Australia create a very strong impression, whether you want them to or not. It's not that this is a bad movie - quite the contrary - but it's a brazen waste of potential. With a more judicious editor and a pared-down script, this could be Oscar-winning fare. In its current form, it makes for a good solid dramatic mystery and little else.

• Bruce B

  
  Pretty good Flix, good for a weekend with nothing to do. Its Australlian, a little slow. Worth the rent.

• Ross C

  
  Tensions in an Australian small town community escalate when four friends discover a dead body on a fishing trip. Slow psycho-drama.

• Dean M

  
  Brilliant drama about a murder and a marriage. Laura Linney is the best performance in this film that gives great courage.

• Mark A

  
  What do you do when you discover that the man you thought you knew and loved is not guided by the same moral compass as you? What if your mental stability is questioned because of a previous bout with severe post-partum depression? How do you engage your significant other and get him… More
  What do you do when you discover that the man you thought you knew and loved is not guided by the same moral compass as you? What if your mental stability is questioned because of a previous bout with severe post-partum depression? How do you engage your significant other and get him to explain his actions to you? That, in a nutshell, is Jindabyne. Claire (Laura Linney) is trying to understand how Stewart (Gabriel Byrne) and his buddies could blythely go on fishing with the dead body of a young woman tethered in the stream. The interplay between these two characters, their friends, and their disapproving neighbors form the core of this highly emotional film. A subtext concerns the man who killed the girl and may be a serial killer. This subtext, however, was kept on the very fringe. The real meat of the film was in Stewart's inability to admit to any wrongdoing and Claire's need to atone for what she perceived was a great moral failure. Interesting interaction with the aboriginal culture and a taste of the racial tension that exists in the land down under. Great cast, heartbreaking story, starkly beautiful scenery, and a couple of heartpounding moments combine to make this a winner that is still, at times, tough to watch.

• Walter M

  
  [font=Century Gothic]"Jindabyne," based on the same Raymond Carver story that formed part of Robert Altman's "Short Cuts," is a frustrating attempt to stretch it to a full-length movie, setting it in a resort town in Australia. In this case the body belongs… More
  [font=Century Gothic]"Jindabyne," based on the same Raymond Carver story that formed part of Robert Altman's "Short Cuts," is a frustrating attempt to stretch it to a full-length movie, setting it in a resort town in Australia. In this case the body belongs to Susan Cooper(Tatea Reilly), a young Aboriginal woman who disappeared on her way to a music festival. Her body is discovered by Stewart Kane(Gabriel Byrne), a white mechanic on a fishing trip with three buddies, whose American wife, Claire(Laura Linney, excellent again), has been suffering from nausea, hoping that she is pregnant, because the alternative is too horrifying to contemplate.[/font] [font=Century Gothic][/font] [font=Century Gothic]The major problem with "Jindabyne" is not with the leisurely pacing(which does allow time to capture the beautiful Australian countryside wonderfully). It is in how the movie is constructed, giving too much time to establish how much of an outsider Claire is.(Personally, I don't blame her for being alarmed that her son brought a knife to school. And I find all children to be a little creepy but that little girl takes the cake.) More time should have been spent at the fishing party, just enough to draw out the horror while revealing less about Susan's killer which should have been left more of a mystery. And the ending is particularly weak.[/font] [font=Century Gothic][/font] [font=Century Gothic]What would have been interesting is if one half of the movie had been spent with the Kanes, and the other half with the Coopers, which would have provided more of a dialogue on racism instead of the usual language of denunciation that we are already so used to hearing. What the movie is concerned with is how the everyday lies we tell separate us from not only our loved ones but also men from women and people of different skin color into different camps. [/font]

• Nicolas K

  
  If I had to use one word about the film it would be disturbing.

• William G

  
  Callous decision divides family, friends, community in decent Aussie drama.

• Jason S

  
  An incredibly moving poignant picture. Stunning performances from Linney and Byrne and brilliant direction from Lawrence send this drama into excellence. The plot itself isn't fully realised, but the message is crystal clear. Highly recommended.

• Stefan P

  
  I understand why people find Jindabyne intriguing, but I thought that the story was slow and boring. It's realistic though, and I usually like that, but I didn't like that they were over dramatizing everything. The ending was very weak as well. So despite strong performances… More
  I understand why people find Jindabyne intriguing, but I thought that the story was slow and boring. It's realistic though, and I usually like that, but I didn't like that they were over dramatizing everything. The ending was very weak as well. So despite strong performances from Linney and Byrne I can't give it a higher grade than 2/5.

• Robert F

  
  Well acted and thought-provoking. I've come to like Laura Linney. I find she brings depth to her characters. Some have said the ending left them feeling empty, but I thought the ending was perfect. See it. It has a very original quality to it.

Read all 14 featured audience ratings