MYSTERY ROAD

space
space
3.5 stars
Ivan Sen (Toomelah) returns to outback Australia when a young Aboriginal girl is found dead in a ditch. The only person who seems to care is Jay Swan (Aaron Pederson), an Aboriginal cop who has returned to his home town from time in the city. As he investigates the story he runs up against institutionalised racism but what irks him more is the blanket of apathy which has smothered the town. What's one more dead black kid, everyone seems to ask. It matters to Jay on both a professional and personal level: his own daughter, from whom he's estranged, is about the same age.

This slow burn Western won't win over audiences used to the frenetic pace of the modern thriller. Sen takes it nice and slowly in the Clint Eastwood school of classic filmmaking where minor revelations pile up before exploding in a violent showdown. It's a hefty study of social issues savaging rural Australia – racism, alcohol abuse, prostitution, drugs and corruption – framed against a lone man quietly fighting the good fight.

Sen maintains a watchful, rather than critical, eye on events as the investigation leads Jay into dark territory. The only patronisation that occurs is by his colleagues, a distressingly insightful observation. Sen also makes terrific use of the dusty, dispirited location where the silence of the outback stands in for a soundtrack, making the haunting desert even more menacing than it otherwise is. If Mad Max thundered over the horizon he wouldn't be entirely out of place. Instead, Sen has brought in a gritty lineup of Australian male actors to muddy the waters of Jay's investigation: Hugo Weaving, Jack Thompson, Ryan Kwanten (whose Red Hill covered similar territory), David Field and Tony Barry among them. And like any good whoddunit, everyone of them has a secret, a motive and an alibi.

Pederson's compelling presence saves this brooding murder mystery from genuine lack of surprise. Sen concentrates so heavily on social subtext that Mystery Road wants for narrative oomph, particularly in the languid middle section. However, such is the set up and pay off that it overcomes most weaknesses to satisfy fans of what amounts to a 'thinking-persons' Western. Along the way, Sen pushes dark truths into harsh daylight while Australian greats strut their not inconsiderable stuff.

// COLIN FRASER

Previewed at Hoyts Studio 12, Entertainment Quarter, Sydney, on 11 July 2013

space
space


STUFF

CAST
Aaron Pederson
Hugo Weaving
Ryan Kwanten
Jack Thompson

DIRECTOR
Ivan Sen

SCREENWRITER
Ivan Sen

COUNTRY
Australia

CLASSIFICATION
M

RUNTIME
111 minutes

AUSTRALIAN
RELEASE DATE
October 17, 2013
space
Mystery Road (2013) on IMDb
space
Stacks Image 56