Waerdnotte Lantana is an excellent drama that is executed with style and authority by the director Ray Lawrence, screen writer Andrew Bovell, DP Mandy Walker and a cast of superb actors. Lawrence directs Bovell's screenplay and the cast with confidence, and this is complemented by Walker's excellent photographic style using washed out colours and interesting lighting.Bovell's screenplay has the main characters interacting with each other through circumstance but the central story is that of La Paglia's police detective. Seeking solace from his marriage and potential heart problems, his affair with fellow salsa student is the springboard for the convoluted relationships within the story. The crime drama is merely a framework to hang the various stories of fractured relationships upon. Dr Somers, the counsellor played by Hershey, is so screwed up by the murder of her daughter she is unbalanced and paranoid. Thinking the gay client she interviews is having a relationship with her estranged husband played by Rush, she eventually ends up stranded in an isolated backwater after a car crash and when she is picked up by Nic, the neighbour of Detective Zat's lover, she believes he is about to rape her and throws herself from the car. When she fails to return home, and Nic is seen disposing of one of her shoes by Jane, Zat's lover, a full-blown murder investigation is soon underway.But this really just gives the viewer an insight to Nic's relationship with his wife, Hannah. A relationship built on trust and mutual respect. When Hannah tells Jane, her neighbour and Zat's lover, that he didn't commit the murder, Jane asks how she knows. Her reply is central to the theme of the movie, she tells Jane she knows because Nic told her he didn't do it. Their love for each other and belief in each other is very different to that experienced by the other three couples.Zat and his wife are just going through the motions, and as Sonja, Zat's wife, tells her counsellor, who happens to be Dr Somers, she wants much more from life. Detective Zat is going through his midlife crisis, unable to communicate with his wife and it is his youngest son who, by fabricating his father's response in a phone call, allows his mother to see that she still has strong feelings for her husband. And Zat's lover, Jane, eventually sees the good in her own estranged husband.So really a story about couples' relationships and the inability to be honest and share innermost feelings, but filmed through the backdrop of a crime drama. Brilliantly executed by a fantastic team of technicians and actors.

Ghostflowers This is such a gem, that it pains. Everything right where they should be, beautifully perfectly executed. Fantastically portrayed with vigorous honesty. And the timing ? Bang on! Utterly beautiful and I am going quite frothy at my mouth now.For anybody with taste, this is un-miss-able. This is exactly how film-making should be where ideas merge seamlessly to create a masterpiece which can touch hearts. Apart from it's obvious brilliance, this movie has such a soul. This is so soulful. All the dots connect in the end and it is staggering. Kudos to everybody even remotely associated with the movie for having done us the honours. Watch it. Very highly recommended.

kenjha This Australian drama looks at the intertwined lives of a group of people. The first third of the film is spent introducing the various characters, but their relationships are not convincing because of bad dialog and uneven acting. Hershey (what's she doing in this Aussie film?) is terrible as a psychiatrist experiencing marital problems. After the lethargic start, the film gets better once Hershey goes missing, but never rises above mediocrity. The script is based on a series of wild coincidences, which would be fine if this were a comedy, but becomes ridiculous for a serious film. The ending is quite corny, as all the plot threads are neatly tied up.

pontifikator This is an excellent film, with great characters and surprising twists. The movie opens with Valerie dead, lying in the thorny brush known locally as lantana - a metaphor, of course, for what life is like for the characters in the tangled plot. Valerie Somers is played by Barbara Hershey, and her husband John Knox by Geoffrey Rush. Anthony LaPaglia plays the police detective Leon Zat investigating her death. We see Valerie and John in flashbacks, showing a deteriorating relationship, and we see Leon in the present, cheating on his wife. Although none of the characters knows each other, their lives are intertwined nonetheless. It's a thicket of relationships that scratches and draws blood.LaPaglia and Rush are outstanding. John is a major suspect, as all husbands are in the deaths of their wives, and John and Leon spar as the investigation shows the bad blood between John and Valerie. We learn, finally, that John is factually innocent, but he is morally guilty of her death all the same. Leon at first sneers at John and his naked emotion, but events turn on Leon, wrenching from him his manly self esteem.This is an adult film, dealing with adult themes. No action, no gunfights, no superheroes. Just us humans muddling through. Director Ray Lawrence and writer Andrew Bovell give us much to chew over, moments of understanding, and finally acceptance of our condition.