Author: Natalie Teasdale

I want to share with other movie fans those amazing films that get under your skin and stay with you for days: the scary ones, the funny ones; the ones that get you thinking. With a background in creative writing, photography, psychology and neuroscience, I’ll be focusing on dialogue, what makes a great story, if the film has beautiful creative cinematography, the soundtrack and any movie that successfully scratches the surface of our existence. My aim is to always be searching for that ultimate movie, to share what I’ve found to be interesting (whether it be a great soundtrack, a great director or links to other information of interest) and to give an honest review without too much fluff. BAppSci in Psychology/Psychophysiology; Grad Dip Creative Arts and Post Grad Dip in Creative Writing. Founder of GoMovieReviews.

War Dogs

Director: Todd Phillips

Writers (screenplay): Stephen Chin, Todd Phillips; Jason Smilovic

Based on an article written by Guy Lawson, “Arms and the Dudes” published in Rolling Stone (2011)

Starring: Miles Tellers, Jonah Hill, Ana de Armas; Bradley Cooper.

When does telling the truth ever help anybody? Is the title of a chapter in War Dogs. Ironic in that the film is based on the true story written by Guy Lawson: a fascinating exposé about two 20-something year-old’s who put together what is now known as the Afghanistan arms deal worth $300 million dollars.

But War Dogs isn’t an action-packed war movie, this incredible story is about two mates seeing an opportunity and taking it.

It’s not about war, it’s about making money.

Combining this have-to-see-to-believe story with a great soundtrack (I’m talking golden oldies such as Creedence Clearwater), director Todd Phillips has brought to life the two characters, David Packouz (Miles Teller) and Efraim Diveroli (Jonah Hill): The laugh Jonah Hill gives his character Efraim is unforgettable.

And I just had to laugh at the balls of these kids. You can’t make this stuff up. What a story and well worth reading the article originally published in Rolling Stone back in 2011: Arms and the Dudes.

I saw a recent interview on The Tonight Show with Jimmy Fallon where Jonah talks about War Dogs and the need for a daily slathering of fake tan because he was allergic to the stuff. Combined with the laugh and standout performance from Jonah, Efraim was the highlight of the film for me. And then there’s the legendary Henry played by Bradley Cooper: an arms dealer who was said to have sourced the rope to hang Saddam Hussein after he was convicted of crimes against humanity.

These guys are the bottom feeders, where War Dogs are those who make money out of the misery of war without ever seeing combat.

This is a film to get people talking, to shake at the incredulous cunning and open for business policy of the American Government. And I congratulate director Todd Phillips for getting the feel just right.

The film is shown as a series of chapters, a telling example entitled: I love Dick Cheney’s American War. And reminiscent of, The Hangover trilogy, the voice-over narrative of Miles Teller as David Packouz gives the story a personal touch.

The freeze mid-action gives the audience a chance to absorb the craziness where if someone were to tell you this story, it would be too far out there to be believed: The American government posting arms contracts to the general public for 20 year-old’s to bid on and win?

Making such an incredible story believable with fantastic acting (Jonah Hill, what a legend) and thought put into the pacing of the film, gives War Dogs a winning quality.

Whether the truth of the story will help anyone is a statement worth discussion, but War Dogs is certainly entertaining and thought-provoking.

Bad Moms

GoMovieReviews Rating: ★★☆ (2.8)

MA15+

Directors: Jon Lucas; Scott Moore

Writers: Jon Lucas; Scott Moore

Starring: Mila Kunis, Kathryn Haln, Kristen Bell, Christina Applegate, Jada Pinkett Smith, Annie Mumolo, Oona Laurence, Emjay Anthony, David Walton, Clark Duke; Jay Hernandez.

I just had a Bad Mom moment. Leaving my notebook in the cinema. And not realising until I started drinking a glass of red wine and then fluffing in my handbag, looking for it. That’s about the extent I related to Bad Moms. The sense of panic. The humiliation if someone had started reading my scribbly notes. Like someone else finding your child and having to pick them up from a stranger… Jeez, it’s like pulling teeth.

If you’re not a mother, relating to Bad Moms is difficult.

Ami (Mila Kunis) is trapped in a world of kids, work, looking after her infantile husband, PTA meetings and everything that life can throw at you. When she finally gets knocked unconscious at her kid’s soccer match, to then be late (again) to the PTA meeting, and then be volunteered by everything-must-be-perfect super mom, Gwendolyn (Christina Applegate), to be the ingredients police at the upcoming bake sale, it’s enough.

Ami decides she’s sick of trying to be the perfect mom.

Now, along with fellow mothers, Carla (Kathryn Haln) and Kiki (Kristen Bell), she decides it’s time to be… A Bad Mom.

Thank goodness for the comic relief of Kiki and her cheeky, loud-mouth antics. It wasn’t that the acting was bad, there just wasn’t enough comic relief.

I had an expectation of many laugh-out-loud moments, and there were a few, but coming from Jon Lucas and Scott Moore as the writers and directors (the guys who co-wrote The Hangover I and Wedding Crashers) I expected there to be wider appeal.

I hear stories from my sisters and I can see how much pressure parents are under these days. Women have to work and keep: home, family, kids and society in general happy. Our mothers have worked hard for equal rights and now there’s this need to be able to do it all. Perfectly. I get that. And Bad Moms is a surprisingly insightful film.

Watching the girls getting into it because they’re sick of having to be perfect was a lot of fun. But to me? These girls needed sleep. For a week. So unlike The Hangover and The Wedding Crashers, I found this movie painful, and not in a funny way.

I can see a group of mums going to Bad Moms, to escape the house and kids for a couple of hours with glass of wine in hand and the relief that they’re not the only ones feeling the pressure of motherhood. And I congratulate Bad Moms on shining a spotlight on what a modern-day mother has to go through. But as a film, Bad Moms is made for a select audience.

Suicide Squad

GoMovieReviews Rating: ★★★★ (3.9/5)

Rated: M

Director: David Ayer

Writer: David Ayer

Starring: Will Smith, Jimenez Fitzsimons, Ike Barinholtz, Margot Robbie, Jared Leto, Cara Delevingne, Jai Caurtney, Joel Kimaman, Adewale Akinnuoge-Agbaje, Viola Davis, Ben Affleck, James McGowan, Jim Parrack, Ezra Miller; Jay Hernandez.

With such a huge amount of hype my expectations were duly high for Suicide Squad.

Was I impressed?

It comes down to the entertainment factor for me. Without a doubt, I was entertained.

Suicide Squad is an inverse to the usual superhero movie, where the bad guys are good and the humans, particularly Amanda Waller (Viola Davis), have become the devil incarnate to keep the human race feeling safe.

It’s a time of fear where mere mortals are faced with the idea of being over-powered. What would happen if Superman decided to take the President and drop him from the sky? No one would be able to stop him.

To protect the human race, Amanda Waller puts together a squad of super-villains. Those with superpower but those locked away for being, well, bad. And now an Enchantress (Cara Delevingne), a genie let out of the proverbial bottle, has come to take over the world.

There are a lot of big names here, the stand outs for me: Margot Robbie as Harley Quinn and Will Smith as Deadshot. I’m not always a fan of the Smith, but he played Deadshot well, managing to give the character warmth and depth. There’s also a chemistry between Margot Robbie and Will Smith that works and appears genuine on film.

I have to say I was let down by the Joker (Jared Leto) after so much hype. The Joker in a film full of big characters felt crowded, but the twisted love story with Harley Quinn was a nice twist to the usual superhero love story.

The editing was conducted so even a second was counted. A couple of jolts at the beginning and the rest of the film was seamless. To fit so much and still give air to the story and characters, director and writer David Ayer is to be commended. And the rock’n soundtrack gave a great pace to the film.

A few gaps have to be mentioned. If you don’t have prior knowledge of Suicide Squad or included characters, some of the backstory was a bit thin. How a psychiatrist becomes a marital arts expert because she’s suddenly crazy was a stretch. And I would have liked more heart from Katana. But more backstory of some characters would have meant cutting others.

Suicide Squad isn’t just a superhero movie, there are elements of fantasy (which I thoroughly enjoyed) put together with fun characters, a great soundtrack and a story held together enough for the film to be entertaining.

Louis Theroux: My Scientology Movie

GoMovieReviews Rating: ★★★★☆ (4.2/5)

Rated: M

Writer and Director: John Dower

Writer and Presenter: Louis Theroux

Featuring: Marty Rathbun, Steve Mango, Marc Headley, Tom De Vocht, Jeff Hawkins, Andrew Perez (as David Miscavige) and Rob Alter (as Tom Cruise).

After 25 TV specials focusing on some of the most intimate and angst-ridden aspects of the human condition: religion, racism, sexuality, criminal justice and mental health, Louis Theroux has returned with a feature film about Scientology.

Using actors mixed with candid interviews between Louis and the ex-members, the film shows an amusing determination to make the documentary with increasingly bizarre interactions with the current members of the organisation where the crew are followed, filmed and confronted. All the while Louis Theroux continues to attempt a balanced perspective of the church, but the strange behaviour and constant re-buffing of the Scientologists reveals a disturbing reality.

Marty Rathbun, an ex-member and at one time the ‘Inspector General’ (the most senior executive in Scientology), responded to Louis Theroux’s call to partake in the documentary. While re-enacting an abuse scene, Marty says to Theroux, ‘I thought you liked the idea of having your face ripped off.’

‘But that was only play acting.’

Where Marty responds, ‘Exactly.’

When Marty makes this statement, it really brought home the devious nature of the religion.

Marty goes on to explain how the counselling is conducted by the Trainers, and how anxiety is cleared through the use of the e-meter. If the machine registers a response while the subject is holding the paddles, then the thought causing the anxiety will be revealed and discussed with the counsellor until the machine no longer registers a response. That means the anxiety has been cleared.

An effective counselling technique that is no doubt very helpful to the person discussing and dealing with negative thoughts.

Marty then explains how the church plants the idea that every good thing that happens in your life is because you have cleared these anxieties and is therefore to be attributed to the church and to Elbert Hubbard. And then to go on and to also contribute every bad thing that happens to the fact you’re not practicing the principles of the organisation correctly and therefore everything bad thing in your life is your fault.

This is how the church of Scientology creates a psychological trap and therefore exerts mind control over its members.

I’d recently seen another documentary on Scientology, ‘Going Clear: Scientology and the Prison of Belief‘, also featuring Marty. Going Clear shows a negative account of the church’s practices with more focus on the tax exemption of the church as a registered religion.

Louis takes a more personal interest in Scientology with a genuine motivation to get the organisation’s side of the matter. Which is continually rejected.

You can see that Louis is concerned that his advances towards the Scientologists are rejected because he’s brought Marty on board. And through-out the documentary there is tension between Marty and Theroux: an interesting personality clash where each man attempts to stare the other down.

I can understand Louis holding a negative view towards Marty, always wondering what this man has done as the ‘Inspector General’, and if he’s speaking against the church out of rejection and spite.

And here we can see the continued drive from Theroux, to be open and see the church in a positive light. But the church in its harassment and complete inability to even acknowledge Louise’s attempt at conversation only reinforce what Marty is sharing.

The success of My Scientology Movie is the revealing insight into the psychological damage that can be caused by just trying to do the right thing, and showing the depth of control of the organisation, I mean church, that can, understandably, make you paranoid.

Lights Out

GoMovieReviews Rating: ★★★☆ (3.6/5)

Directed By: David Sandberg

Screenplay: Eric Heisserer

Based on a Short Film by: David F. Sandberg

Cast: Teresa Palmer, Gabriel Bateman, Alexander DiPersia, Billy Burke, Maria Bello, Alicia Vela-Bailey, Andi Osho, Rolando Boyce; Maria Russell.

Although a sometimes tense horror-thriller, Lights Out felt lightweight.

This is a difficult story to tell and I don’t want to give too much away. Suffice to say Rebecca’s (Teresa Palmer) mum’s (Maria Bello) having a meltdown and she’s scared her kid brother’s (Gabriel Bateman) in trouble. Like she was at his age. When she was being haunted by her mum’s imaginary friend, Dianne.

Director David Sandberg (who also created the short film) puts effort into the atmosphere of Lights Out. The soundtrack is a creepy backdrop to the shadows and glowing eyes of the creature that is Dianne. And the screenplay itself is well-thought with a backstory of how Dianne became.

The missing element to the film was the lack of depth of character.

Rebecca, the rebellious daughter and protagonist of the film was dismissive and her boyfriend, the ever faithful Bret (Alexander DiPersia) was frankly, too nice to believe. Not to sound bitter but do guys like Bret actually exist?

Martin, the kid brother, was a bit strained; the mother, Sophie the only really believable character.

I love a good horror, and there were definite tense moments. I jumped at least once.

Clever devices were used: plastic sheeting covering the bodies of plastic, life-sized models is creepy. And tapping into the deep-seated fear of being scared of the dark was well shown with the character of Dianne conversely being scared of the light. But because the other characters weren’t believable, it became difficult to hold the suspension of reality concerning Dianne.

The film was missing that heavy weight, the surprise I’m coming to expect from modern horror directors such as James Wan (note here he was the producer not the director for Lights Out).

Better than your average trashy horror but I’d say Lights Out was directed at a younger audience.

Star Trek Beyond

GoMovieReviews Rating: ★★★★

Director: Justin Lin

Story By: Gene Roddenberry

Screenplay: Simon Pegs, Doug Jung.

Cast: Chris Pine, Zachary Quinto, Karl Urban, Zoe Saldana, Simon Pegg, John Cho, Anton Yelchin, Idris Elba; Sofia Boutella.

There’s always a moral to a Star Trek story, and this time in, Star Trek Beyond, Captain James T. Kirk (Chris Pine) is having a midlife crisis.

He’s been lost in space for too long and doesn’t know what he wants anymore. He’s made the memory of his father proud; he’s the captain of the Enterprise. But where do the steps towards his father end? And where does Kirk begin?

That’s what I like about the Star Trek franchise. I like the characters and seeing how they deal with their struggles in life.

Interesting that Beyond is the third in the trilogy of the re-boot series (the 13^thStar Trek film) now coming to maturity, just like Capt. Kirk.

As always, there’s the difference in characters’ personality and culture. I love Scotty the Scotsman and am really getting into the reluctant Dr. ‘Bones’ McCoy (Karl Urban), the southern doctor. And not just because he’s handsome, Bones makes me laugh.

And there’s always the running theme of unity, which is mostly what the Star Trek films are about. The difference of the crew members and the strength of working together.

So yes, there’s a formula in the writing here, in the themes written for Star Trek, but that’s why we dig it, yeah?

What was new is the addition of the character, Jaylah (Sofia Boutella) who looks to be a permanent fixture in future films.

And the visual effects just keep getting better with each Star Trek adventure. See Ian Failes article for Inverse here: how-star-trek-changed-visual-effects-history.

Director Justin Lin has brought Peter Chiang on board to take a more scientific approach to the visual effects. The realistic VFX (visual effects created by processes in which imagery is created and/or manipulated outside the context of a live action shot) go beyond (ha, ha) all expectation.

There are some amazing perspectives here that on the big screen kicked in my vertigo, so yeah, the visual effects are amazing.

I have to mention the sadness felt when realising I’ll never see Anton Yelchin as Chekov again. See article about his passing here. I’ll miss the innocence (although not as innocent with the ladies in, Beyond) and the genius Anton managed to give to the character, Chekov…

A few asides from crusty Bones, tracks to get the blood pumping and the feeling of being on a roller coaster, Star Trek Beyond adds up to a well-packaged, entertaining film.

Sanpaku Eyes – A Cinematic Device

Recently, I went to see the horror movie, The Witch: A New-England Folktale (2015) and noticed the whites under the iris of the young daughter, Thomasin (Anja Taylor-Joy) were used by director, Robert Eggers to show an impending danger.

A subtle device, yet very effective.

Seeing the whites under her eyes left me feeling anxious, and I could feel that bad things were to come for this young girl.

The white sclera showing under or over the iris is known as the three whites of the eye: sanpakugan also known as sanpaku eyes.

As noted in Timothy Spearman’s article, ‘The Psychopath: Who’s afraid of the Big Bad Wolf’¹, there are two types of sanpaku eyes: the yin sanpaku, where the white shows below the iris and the yang sanpaku, where the white shows above.

Basically, the theory is if a person is showing the sclera below their eyes, as in the case of Thomasin, the danger is yin, and therefore coming from outside.

A person with yin sanpaku eyes is, ‘likely to place himself or herself in dangerous or threatening situations unwittingly and may be in mortal peril.’

If the sclera is showing above the iris, this is yang sanpaku. ‘In this case, the iris sinks downward toward the bottom eyelid. This reveals a dangerous or violent character.’

Spearman proposes, ‘a damaged amygdala may influence the position and aspect of the eye, possibly directing the iris to sink down in the lower quadrant of the eye when the amygdala either shrinks or swells in size due to trauma, depression and other emotional stimuli.’

As Fudge, et al (Considering the Role of the Amygdala in Psychotic Illness: A Clinicopathological Correlation, 1998)² states, ‘It is generally accepted that the amygdala plays a role in attaching emotional significance to environmental stimuli’.

This means that a dysfunction of the amygdala may affect the emotional significance given to external cues and therefore the person may lack empathy.

Adolphs, et al³ reported a case of an adult patient with bilateral amygdala lesions, ‘… was unable to recognize fear among facial expression.’

Why is the use of sanpaku eyes in cinema such a successful device?

If a character is unable to recognise fear and lacks empathy, we’re talking about a psychopath – check out the character Dr Hannibal Lecter below.

What can cause amygdala dysfunction?

Cohen et al (Early-life stress has persistent effects on amygdala function and development in mice and humans)⁴, states ‘their study provides evidence of early and persistent alterations in anxious behaviour and amygdala function following the early-life stress of disorganized parental care.’

So a character with sanpaku eyes can be shown to have had a traumatic upbringing without actually including the characters childhood as part of the narrative.

A damaged amygdala can certainly affect a person’s personality and emotions or lack of emotional response, and there’s no denying the effect sanpaku eyes have on an audience watching a film: The feeling of impending doom for a character or the warning of hidden evil in another.

But whether there’s scientific merit for sanpaku eyes is certainly up for debate.

The shift in the iris due to a change in the amygdala could be a stretch (a downward shift known as sunset eyes in an infant can be caused by hydrocephalus which is a build-up of cerebrospinal fluid in the brain). However, the use of sanpaku eyes in cinema is a clever device as the reaction feels innate. The feeling that something is wrong.

Hard to miss the evil emanating from the eyes of the witch from Disney’s, Cinderella. And going by the theory mentioned above, the witch wouldn’t see our fear, all she’d see is prey.

Spearman, T (2011) The Psychopath: Who’s Afraid of the Big Bad Wolf? shakesaspear.com
Fudge et al. (1998) Considering the Role of the Amygdala in Psychotic Illness: A Clinicopathological Correlation. J Neuropsychiatry 10(4):383-394
Adolphs R, Tranel D, Damasio H, et al (1994) Impaired recognition of emotion in facial expressions following bilateral damage to the human amygdala. Nature 372:669-672
Malter Cohen et al. (2013) Early-life stress has persistent effects on amygdala function and development in mice and humans. PNAS 110(45): 18274-18278.

Sing Street

GoMovieReviews Rating: ★★★★

Director: John Carney

Writer: John Carney

Starring: Ferdia Walsh-Peelo, Aidan Gillen, Maria Doyle Kennedy, Jack Reynor, Lucy Boynton, Kelly Thornton, Ben Carolan, Mark McKenna, Percy Chamburuka, Conor Hamilton, Karl Rice; Ian Kenny.

Whether it was the Irish accent, the characters or the 80s music (had a buddy with me who couldn’t help but sing along), Sing Street was a winner for me.

I enjoyed director, John Carney’s previous film, Begin Again (2013) and the way music was incorporated into the story of Sing Street was very similar: stylised act used sparingly so it didn’t feel like a musical, just a film with a lot of music.

And Sing Street had grit. This is Ireland in the 1980s: lack of jobs and money, where alcoholism is rife and anyone who can escape to London is jumping on that ferry.

For those left. It’s just a dream.

Conor Lalor’s (Ferdi Walsh-Peelo) parents are skint. Money pressures lead to fighting, to tightening the belt. Money has to be saved somewhere. So Conor is transferred to the catholic school run by the Brothers featuring kids running amok.

Black-eyed and bullied, Conor meets the girl of his dreams, Raphina (Lucy Bonton). A model, no less. Showing courage, or just the power of teenage hormones, he invites Raphina to feature in a music video for his band.

She says, ‘Yeah maybe’.

Problem is, he doesn’t have a band.

This is a kid with a serious crush. So he goes about putting together a band (Sing Street), the introduction of fellow band members and his brother, Brendan Lalor encouraging Conor, AKA, Cosmo, maps out the story of the film. With 80s music featured, of course.

I’m talking boys with make-up and music from The Clash, The Cure, Duran Duran and many of the original tracks performed by Sing Street composed by Gary Clark (of the Northern Irish band, Relish) with John Carney able to take credit for co-writing a lot of the songs. So that’s credit for directing, writing the script and writing songs? That’s impressive.

Also, this is an extremely hard film to make without becoming saccharine. Thankfully, there was more meat to the story of boy has crush on girl out of reach, so I’ll put together a band and then she’ll love me. This is film about escape from and the acceptance of all life can throw at you. To plow through whatever the arguments, bullying and crap and to get on with it and create something else. To feel something else.

It takes courage to reach.

I believed the shy Cosmo with his blushing cheeks, overcoming fear to reach for those stars. And his muse, Raphina, could have been just a pretty yet annoying character, but she had class and philosophy – ‘That’s what love is Cosmo,’ she says. ‘Happy-sad’.

Look, musicals aren’t really my thing – Glee? Forget it! But the way the music was incorporated into Sing Street was seamless. And the tongue-in-cheek humour helped a lot, giving those few forgivable cheesy moments just the right touch to feel authentic.

Everybody Wants Some!!

GoMovieReviews Rating: ★★★☆ (3.8/5)

Director/Writer: Richard Linklater

Starring: Blake Jenner, Juston Street, Ryan Guzman, Tyler Hoechlin, Wyatt Russell, Glen Powell, Temple Baker, J. Quinton Johnson, Will Brittain, Zoey Deutch, Austin Amelio, Tanner Kalina, Forrest Vickery.

As suggested by the title (a classic by Van Halen), Everybody Wants Some!! is a tribute to the ‘80s era (and yes, they all really do want some).

Ah, the ‘80s – how far we’ve come from: pooh brown pants with tight shirts tucked in, the mighty mustache – the mighty mosh out in all its glory; tape decks and punk rock, smoking where-ever, pin ball machines and table tennis.

The film had a lot of fun with the college setting in the 1980s. But Everybody Wants Some!! was also about freshmen settling into college life with all the girls and parties and lessons to be learned.

Set at the start of term, freshman Jake (Blake Jenner) arrives at a house where the ceiling is about to collapse because the guys are filling up a water bed for better bedroom experience with the ladies.

This is the frat house for the college baseball team.

Following Jake and the other freshmen settling in over the 3-day lead-up to the beginning of classes, it’s party time, where the focus is finding a girl while sizing up the rest of the guys in the baseball team.

The guys are happily physical with each other; a natural competitiveness comes to light with each personality rising to the surface as the days and parties continue.

And the film evolves into an interesting story of guys facing the challenge of growing into themselves, and how friendships develop through the ability to appreciate difference; to be able to fight, get over it and grow.

There were some fascinating perspectives discussed while taking hits from a bong.

And I enjoyed the baseball!

I’m really not a sports fan, so I was surprised how much I liked seeing the characters play.

The baseball wasn’t a feature until later in the film and this was clever as it showed a more serious side to the characters: this wasn’t about sizing each other up and challenging, this was about working together as a team. Bullshit just doesn’t cut it because this is about their future. Something to be taken seriously.

So yes, there was loads of testosterone and girls in skimpy outfits. But there was also an honesty and sincerity here.

Richard Linklater also wrote the 1993 film Dazed and Confused (the predecessor to this one). I was far younger when I watched Dazed and Confused, and I loved the cheekiness of it, the fun.

Everybody Wants Some!! although still relational, had a greater intellectual aspect. This is a step up from High School. This is College.

These aren’t just idiot jocks out for a root (well, not all the time), there’s also a seeking, a challenge in these characters. And it was good to see guys just being guys.

At the start of the film, I would have to say the humour was aimed at a younger audience, as was the message: more your teen to 20s, perhaps. But I enjoyed the film more as it progressed.

An entertaining winter warmer loaded with testosterone developing into a film with a surprising amount of depth.

Goldstone

GoMovieReviews Rating: ★★★☆ (3.8/5)

Director/Writer/Music: Ivan Sen

Starring: Aaron Pedersen, Alex Russell, David Gulpilil, Jacki Weaver and David Wenham.

Sequel to Mystery Road (2013), Goldstone is a crime drama set on the backdrop of a desert mining town that gets you thinking about the value of life in isolation where the threat is from the people who run the town and earn the mighty mining dollar.

Out there in the desert, the desolate packed earth runs through the veins up to the soul of those unable to quench it.

This is a film driven by the strong performances of Aaron Pedersen as Jay Swan, the grieving drunken cop sent to the country of his mob to find a Chinese girl gone missing. And Jacki Weaver as the Mayor: a cold character, with the ice in her stare showing the predator beneath her floral apron.

David Wenham as Johnny, the head of the mining company, was also a stand-out performance: an iconic Aussie character with his stubby shorts, long socks pulled up to the knees and glasses from the ’70s.

And the Indigenous people also play a part in this film, with old man Jimmy’s (David Gulpilil) voice echoing off the red rock reflected on the water of secret rivers.

It’s unique, the setting of this film.

Director Ivan Sen makes the most of the endless land and rosy sunsets by taking shots from high above to show the utter isolation of the place. He uses the quiet threat of the land where wild half-breed dingoes and flies will eat you if you happen to get lost. The lone cop, Josh (Alex Russell) telling the detective, the outsider, ‘Be careful where you step, there’s plenty of snakes around’.

And I found the quiet of the film interesting, with a soundtrack made up mostly of the desert wind and bird call of the outback.

This isn’t a film that entertains but takes you on a journey of crime in a place so isolated, the one cop in town is seemingly unable to fight it.

It’s a different set of rules in Goldstone, amongst the hawks and red dirt. And this film highlights the difference between the organic, the value of fish in the river compared to the fake power of money.

Goldstone is glittering glass often mistaken for natural material. And like the title of this film, money is just paper. Human trafficking is not of the earth. It’s a human trait, like fake gold.

So yes, this is a quality film that gets you thinking, but it’s such a quiet slow burner you need to concentrate with this one.

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