Strangerland | |
---|---|
Directed by | Kim Farrant |
Written by | Fiona Seres Michael Kinirons |
Produced by | Naomi Wenck Macdara Kelleher |
Starring | |
Cinematography | P.J. Dillon |
Edited by | Veronika Jenet |
Music by | Keefus Ciancia |
Production companies | |
Distributed by | Transmission |
Release date |
|
Running time | 111 minutes |
Countries |
|
Language | English |
Budget | $10 million [2] |
Box office |
Strangerland is a 2015 drama suspense film directed by Kim Farrant in her directorial debut, and written by Michael Kinirons and Fiona Seres. [4] The film stars Nicole Kidman, Joseph Fiennes, and Hugo Weaving. The film premiered at the Sundance Film Festival on 23 January 2015. [5] The film did not have a theatrical release in its native Australia, but did receive a limited release in cinemas in the United States on 10 July 2015 by Alchemy. [6]
Catherine and Matthew Parker move with their children Lily and Tom to the remote Australian desert town of Nathgari. Although the family is unhappy with the move, Matthew and Tom blame Lily for forcing them to leave the larger town of Coonaburra. When he can't sleep, Tom sometimes walks around the neighbourhood at night, an activity his parents discourage. One night, Matthew sees Tom leave the house, followed by Lily. Half asleep, he says nothing and goes back to sleep. Next morning Catherine oversleeps, and when she cannot find the kids, calls Matthew at work. He reassures her that they must have gone to school before she woke up. When the school calls to report that Tom and Lily have not been attending, she once again becomes worried, as a dust storm is forecast to hit the town. Matthew discourages her from contacting anyone, as he does not wish the family's business to once again become public knowledge. Against his wishes, Catherine contacts several people and finally the police.
While taking their report, Detective David Rae finds that Lily has once before been reported missing. Catherine and Matthew reluctantly reveal that she merely disappeared for a few days, they panicked and reported, but she soon turned up at a friend's house. After further investigation, Rae learns that one of Lily's Coonaburra teachers, Neil McPherson, had sex with her. When Matthew found out, he beat up McPherson, earning a restraining order. The Parkers admit to Rae that they were forced to leave Coonaburra to escape the attention. Catherine becomes frustrated with Matthew's focus on his job as a pharmacist, though he insists that he has no choice, since the community needs his services. Rae's queries in town reveal that Lily had indeed multiple sexual relationships despite being underage (she's fifteen). When Catherine finds Lily's diary she reluctantly reads it. It's irate/angsty with hyper-sexualised imagery and includes pictures and poetry about several people: McPherson, the Parker's mentally handicapped handyman Burtie, and a local youth nicknamed Slug. It also describes her parents' marriage as a sham, which causes Catherine to cry. Catherine hands the diary to Rae with the proviso that he not reveal it to Matthew.
Matthew drives to Coonaburra, where he questions and threatens McPherson. Coreen, Rae's girlfriend and Burtie's sister, becomes annoyed when Rae won't share details of the case with her. She's also jealous, fearing Rae is attracted to Catherine. Rae secretly shreds the evidence from the diary that connects Burtie to Lily and discourages Burtie from telling him anything incriminating. Rae arrests Slug, but without any evidence of an actual crime, must release him. When the kids remain missing, the town organises a search party. Matthew refuses to participate, further angering Catherine. Rae suggests to Catherine that her children could have run away for a reason closer to home. Catherine confronts Matthew with Lily's sexual history and asks if he ever molested her. Incredulous, he denies it and asks why she would even ask; she cites his apparent reluctance to help find the kids. Knowing now that Burtie had a sexual relationship with Lily, Matthew beats up Burtie and searches his house. Coreen demands Rae arrest Matthew, and when she accuses him of taking the Parkers' side, Rae reveals Burtie's connection.
Burtie visits the Parkers and asks to speak with Matthew. Catherine invites him in, but he leaves when she attempts to seduce him in Lily's clothes. When Matthew drives into the desert alone, in the opposite direction of the other searchers, he finds Tom dehydrated and delirious. Tom initially refuses to speak, so Catherine yells at him; Tom eventually tells Matthew that he saw Lily get into a car. Catherine listens as locals discuss Lily's disappearance and likely death, and becomes distraught when she receives prank calls that call Lily "a whore". Desperate, she visits Rae, and when she fails to seduce him, wanders into the desert night, alone. Unsure why she's hated or has done wrong, she despairs. Next morning, traumatised and stripped naked, she reappears in town; gathering all to gawp. Matthew rescues her, then tenderly bathes her. In bed together, as they hold each other, Catherine admits that she hid the diary from Matthew, and Matthew reveals he saw the kids leave that night. He admits he did not stop them because, angry with Lily, he wanted to punish her. Catherine hugs Tom and walks onto the porch, where she and Matthew console each other. While holding Lily's diary, Matthew cries and says that he wishes he could take back that one moment.
Two passages of Lily's poetry, in her voice, over aerial imagery of the vast outstretching 'Outback' - Lily's fate is left uncertain...
On 20 October 2013, Nicole Kidman, Guy Pearce, and Hugo Weaving joined the cast of the thriller film. Screen Australia announced it would finance the film. Macdara Kelleher and Naomi Wench were announced as producers, and Kim Farrant was announced as director, with a script by Fiona Seres and Michael Kinirons. [4] The other cast members announced included Lisa Flanagan, Martin Dingle-Wall, Meyne Wyatt and Nicholas Hamilton. [9] On 13 March 2014, Joseph Fiennes joined the film, replacing Pearce. [7] On 27 March 2014, it was announced that Maddison Brown had landed a lead role in the film to debut her acting career, which Worldview Entertainment would finance. [8]
On 27 March 2014, it was announced that the shooting of the film was set to start in the last week of March in Sydney. [10] The filming was also set to take place in Canowindra and Broken Hill in New South Wales, [9] and Alice Springs in the Northern Territory. [11] Shooting began on 31 March 2014. [12] [13]
The film had its world premiere at the Sundance Film Festival on 23 January 2015. [5] Shortly after the premiere, Alchemy acquired the US distribution rights to the film. [14] The film went on to screen at the Belgrade Film Festival, Seattle International Film Festival, Sydney Film Festival. [15] [16] The film was released in the United States on 10 July 2015 in a limited release and through video on demand. [6]
The film did not release to cinemas in Australia, but was released to DVD, Blu-Ray & Digital by Transmission. [17]
An image and a new synopsis was revealed on 5 May 2014. [18] On 3 June 2015, the official poster was released. [6]
Strangerland was met with mixed to negative reviews, earning a 41% approval rating on Rotten Tomatoes based on 68 critics with a weighted average score of 5.17/10. The site's consensus: "Strangerland has a marvelous cast, but their efforts aren't enough to overcome the story's blandly predictable melodrama.". [19] Metacritic reports a normalized score of 42 out of 100, based on 13 critics, indicating "mixed or average reviews". [20]
Brad Wheeler of The Globe and Mail gave a positive review, calling it "Eerie and unpredictable, Strangerland holds attention, even if traditional suspense tricks are avoided like they were dingos at the daycare." [21] Matthew Lickona of San Diego Reader commented "Director Kim Farrant goes for a feeling that's as harsh, unforgiving, and wild as the land she lets the camera linger on, and it's the right idea when handling the potential melodrama of the material." [22] Staci Layne Wilson of AtHomeInHollywood.com stated that the film is "presented through a prism of womanly wantonness juxtaposed with a mother's pain and fear." [23] Joe McGovern of Entertainment Weekly complimented Nicole Kidman, saying "her best performances have often been as grieving moms ( Dead Calm , The Others , Rabbit Hole ) and here she provides the flaccid movie's sole flash of daring and unpredictability." [24]
Richard Roeper of the Chicago Sun-Times gave a negative review, saying the film "runs out of gas, leaving us with a couple of final "Forget You" (shall we say) moments. Thanks. Thanks for nothing." [25]
Award | Category | Subject | Result |
---|---|---|---|
AFCA Awards | Best Actress | Nicole Kidman | Nominated |
Best Cinematography | P.J. Dillon | Nominated | |
FCCA Awards | Best Actress | Nicole Kidman | Nominated |
Best Supporting Actor | Hugo Weaving | Nominated | |
Sundance Film Festival | Grand Jury Prize | Kim Farrant | Nominated |
Sydney Film Festival | Sydney Film Prize for Best Film | Nominated |
Nicole Mary Kidman is an American and Australian actress and producer. Known for her work across various film and television productions from several genres, she has consistently ranked among the world's highest-paid actresses. She is the recipient of numerous accolades, including an Academy Award, a British Academy Film Award, two Primetime Emmy Awards, and six Golden Globe Awards.
Hugo Wallace Weaving is a British actor. He is the recipient of six Australian Academy of Cinema and Television Arts Awards (AACTA) and has also been recognised as an Honorary Officer of the Order of Australia. Born in Colonial Nigeria to English parents, he has resided in Australia for the entirety of his career.
Dead Calm is a 1989 Australian psychological thriller film directed by Phillip Noyce and starring Sam Neill, Nicole Kidman and Billy Zane. The screenplay by Terry Hayes was based on the 1963 novel of the same name by Charles Williams. Filmed around the Great Barrier Reef, the plot focuses on a married couple, who, after tragically losing their son, are spending some time isolated at sea, when they come across a stranger who has abandoned a sinking ship.
Bangkok Hilton is a three-part Australian mini-series made in 1989 by Kennedy Miller Productions and directed by Ken Cameron. The title of the mini-series is the nickname of a fictional Bangkok prison in which the main protagonist is imprisoned, a mordant reference to Hanoi Hilton, the nickname for a prison used by North Vietnam during the Vietnam War.
Martin Dingle-Wall is an Australian actor, producer and screenwriter. He originated the role of Flynn Saunders on the Australian soap opera Home and Away in 2001. He departed the show in 2002. Dingle-Wall has appeared in Satisfaction, Underbelly: A Tale of Two Cities and Cops: L.A.C.
Xavier Samuel is an Australian film and theatre actor. He has appeared in leading roles in the feature films Adore, September, Further We Search, Newcastle, The Loved Ones, Frankenstein, A Few Best Men, and played Riley Biers in The Twilight Saga: Eclipse, and Billy in Spin Out. He also starred as Cass Chaplin in Blonde.
Australia is a 2008 epic adventure drama film directed by Baz Luhrmann and starring Nicole Kidman and Hugh Jackman. The screenplay was written by Luhrmann and screenwriter Stuart Beattie, with Ronald Harwood and Richard Flanagan. The film is a character story, set between 1939 and 1942 against a dramatised backdrop of events across northern Australia at the time, such as the bombing of Darwin during World War II.
Samara Weaving is an Australian actress and model. She began her career in her home country, playing Kirsten Mulroney on the drama series Out of the Blue (2008). She came to prominence with her portrayal of Indi Walker on the soap opera Home and Away (2009–2013), for which she received an Australian Academy of Cinema and Television Arts (AACTA) nomination for Best Female Performance.
Trespass is a 2011 American crime thriller film directed by Joel Schumacher, from a screenplay by Karl Gajdusek. It stars Nicolas Cage and Nicole Kidman as a married couple taken hostage by extortionists. It also stars Ben Mendelsohn, Cam Gigandet, Liana Liberato, Jordana Spiro, Dash Mihok, Emily Meade and Nico Tortorella.
Hemingway & Gellhorn is a 2012 television film directed by Philip Kaufman about the lives of journalist Martha Gellhorn and her husband, writer Ernest Hemingway. The film premiered at the 2012 Cannes Film Festival and aired on HBO on May 28, 2012.
Allanah Zitserman is an Australian scriptwriter and film producer, founder of Dungog Film Festival, and director of Lumila Films.
Stoker is a 2013 psychological thriller film directed by Park Chan-wook, in his English-language debut, and written by Wentworth Miller. The film stars Mia Wasikowska, Matthew Goode, Nicole Kidman, Dermot Mulroney, and Jacki Weaver.
Absolutely Anything is a 2015 British science fantasy comedy film directed by Terry Jones, and written by Terry Jones and Gavin Scott. It stars Simon Pegg, Kate Beckinsale, Sanjeev Bhaskar, Rob Riggle, Eddie Izzard and Joanna Lumley, with the nonhuman characters' voices provided by John Cleese, Terry Gilliam, Eric Idle, Jones, Michael Palin and Robin Williams. It was the first movie to feature all living Monty Python members since Monty Python's The Meaning of Life (1983), and the first without Graham Chapman, who died in 1989. Principal photography and production began on March 24, 2014, and ended on May 12 of that same year. The film was released in the United Kingdom on August 14, 2015 by Lionsgate UK and was released in the United States on May 12, 2017, grossing $6.3 million worldwide.
Grace of Monaco is a 2014 biographical drama film directed by Olivier Dahan and written by Arash Amel. The film stars Nicole Kidman in the titular role as Grace of Monaco. It also features a supporting cast of Frank Langella, Parker Posey, Derek Jacobi, Paz Vega, Roger Ashton-Griffiths, Milo Ventimiglia, and Tim Roth.
Before I Go to Sleep is a 2014 mystery psychological thriller film written and directed by Rowan Joffé and based on the 2011 novel of the same name by S. J. Watson. An international co-production between the United Kingdom, the United States, France and Sweden, the film stars Nicole Kidman, Mark Strong, Colin Firth, and Anne-Marie Duff.
Throughout her career spanning over nearly four decades, American-born Australian actress and producer Nicole Kidman has appeared in numerous film and television projects, as well as in theatre productions. She made her film debut in the Australian drama Bush Christmas in 1983. Four years later, she starred in the television miniseries Bangkok Hilton, for which she received the AACTA Award for Best Lead Actress in a Television Drama. Her breakthrough role was as a married woman trapped on a yacht with a murderer in the 1989 thriller Dead Calm. She followed this with her Hollywood debut opposite Tom Cruise in Tony Scott's auto-racing film Days of Thunder (1990). Her role as a homicidal weather forecaster in Gus Van Sant's crime comedy-drama To Die For garnered Kidman a Golden Globe Award for Best Actress – Motion Picture Comedy or Musical in 1996. She worked with Cruise again on Ron Howard's Far and Away (1992) and Stanley Kubrick's erotic thriller Eyes Wide Shut in 1999.
The Undoing is an American mystery psychological thriller television miniseries based on the 2014 novel You Should Have Known by Jean Hanff Korelitz. It was written and produced by David E. Kelley and directed by Susanne Bier. The miniseries stars Nicole Kidman and Hugh Grant and premiered on HBO on October 25, 2020.
The Dig is a 2021 British drama film directed by Simon Stone, based on the 2007 novel of the same name by John Preston, which reimagines the events of the 1939 excavation of Sutton Hoo in Suffolk, England. It stars Carey Mulligan, Ralph Fiennes, Lily James, Johnny Flynn, Ben Chaplin, Ken Stott, Archie Barnes, and Monica Dolan.
Maddison Amy Brown is an Australian actress and model. She is known for her role as Kirby Anders in the CW prime time soap opera Dynasty.
Nine Perfect Strangers is an American drama television series based on the 2018 novel of the same name by Liane Moriarty. Created by David E. Kelley who also developed the series alongside John-Henry Butterworth, the series premiered on August 18, 2021, on Hulu. In June 2023, it was announced that the series was renewed for a second season.