Joe Maguire I have mixed feelings about this one. It gives a real taste of the harshness of outback farm life in Australia, and it is certainly well directed and produced. The acting performances are convincing, though the character of Toni seems a little over the top, or even unnecessary to the story. Speaking of which; the story is the weakness here. What could have been a psychological drama tracing taboo desires and their roots is instead allowed to develop into a father vs son struggle that we've seen too many times before.Overall: dark, fascinating, challenging, but let down in the end by a plot without the depth to really carry it over the line. Worth watching though.

tedg In the last year, I saw a film ("In My Father's Den") with much the same themes. In that New Zealand film, a man, a celebrated war correspondent returns to his rural home on the death of his father. There are significant unresolved frictions between father and son. The returning man had sex with a girl when a boy, had left immediately thereafter, and that drives the tension. People are unhappy (the man burns his dad's stuff) but some unknown facts about the youthful relationship (there is a brother who hid something) are revealed and the man is freed of his ghosts.The similarity with this story is so striking that it distracted me. That film managed to mix the emotions of rambling in inner hurt with the curiosity of a detective far better than this, and was thus more engaging. This is adapted for the screen and directed by an actress for her husband, who plays the dying father. So it is no wonder that the structure of the long form is sacrificed for the power of certain scenes with the old man. And it is no wonder that unduly long episodes are included to establish character, for instance, we have a quarter of the film between our returning fellow and the dopey girl he brings with him. As far as we can tell, this is to show how messed up he is with women. Meanwhile, we get nothing about his life as a writer other than he is successful and writes autobiographically inspired pieces. Wouldn't this have been important, since the implication in all such situations is that we are reading his work in seeing the story?The scenery is compelling but not folded into the story. While others may find the acting adequate or better, the only role that seemed real to me was the girl of the title. She plays a maturing Lolita temptress, and the cinematic handing of her is really quite superb. She flits in and out of the story for the first two thirds in such a way that we know she is the ghost. But then again, I just saw a similar character in "Carried Away" that was so much better integrated between the dramatic unfolding and the camera eye.So put this one down as appealing scenery, and another entry in the directors who direct their lovers database.Ted's Evaluation -- 2 of 3: Has some interesting elements.

DownundaDVD It's easy to pick on a movie that's based on a very good book because expectations are very high, and you have an idea in your head before you even see the movie. So I'm not going to make comparisons for the sake of it. Just one criticism that I cant see anyone who read the book will argue with, and that's the change of setting from Idaho to South Australia. The big problem here is that the American wilderness is never as "dead" as the Australian wilderness. In fact just look at the title of 'Deadheart' (another Bryan Brown film by coincidence).The impact of the change of setting is that the characters are so marooned and cut off. You never get that sense in the book, where the wilderness is their natural haven. That doesn't mean the actors aren't believable. They are and first time director Rachel Ward has done something special in relating the female experience. I felt every scene that worked, and the pacing is just right. I've read some ridiculous reviews that this is a film for women. Well it's not, it's about how women relate with their world in a universal way. That makes this a universal story and a movie worth seeing.

Tim Johnson Beautiful Kate is a beautiful movie albeit a difficult, challenging movie but one that will remain with you long after leaving the theatre. Diane and I saw this film yesterday at SX Luna and as we waited to enter a lady exited and said she did not like anything in the film and we thought she had seen another film. Now I realise what she meant although I would vehemently disagree with her. Beautiful Kate takes place in a 30s house on a small farm with South Australia's Flinders Ranges as a backdrop: it is kind of dilapidated, very dry and probably hugely depressing to people coming from more salubrious surrounds. Bryan Brown who plays a pivotal role has been made-up perfectly to fit his part as the father of his family that must live out the mental re-enactment of long past deeds. I mention Brown because his appearance (a wonderful tribute to the makeup artist's skill) is, to me at least a metaphor for the lives of the children gathered at their families' farm. This film is raw; the title may have given the woman who so disliked it the wrong idea of its substance because the movie is exactly opposite of beautiful. Personally I thought Rachel Ward, director and writer, examined the emotions of the players brilliantly. I cannot speak highly enough about this film. We have developed a movie genre that is unique to Australia and conveys ranges of nuanced emotion that can only be dreamed about in other countries. Hollywood came close with The Last Picture Show but that was almost 50 years ago and they seem not to want to return to the genre. Make every attempt to see this movie but be aware when you walk in that the vehicle is not fancy.