doing their roles to the best as far as I was concerned. The collection of actors both male and female, Anglo and Indigenous were superb. I think that another role played but receiving no credit was the remarkable landscape where the movie was filmed. The dryness of the small town was palpable after watching only the first sections; it was as if a bad metaphor had been dropped into the film but the burnt scenery eventually took on more than just a palate upon which the film was acted out.I love our films and this one was no exception; there was a palpable sense of doom that was going to catch these people and that doom could not be reconciled. It would need to be played out.

disbelief in the way he worked his way into the crime investigation he has been given by the chief of his police department. Additionally, I felt it showed a realistic slice of modern Australian youth, many of whom have turned to drug use with a vengeance with the inevitable consequences of youthful addiction. I give very few "10's" to any movie I review and this one deserved every shining star. Sit back and let the wonderful acting of Aaron Pedersen turn your viewing time into an experience to remember. This guy is a "great actor" and I am looking forward to his next big screen role. StocktonRob

as the local mortician, Zoe Carides as the hotel manager of the exquisitely named Dusk til Dawn hotel, Jack Thompson as the old timer mourning the loss of his chihuahua, Tony Barry as the enigmatic police sergeant, David Field as the racist redneck farmer, Tasma Walton as Swan's ex wife and struggling single parent, Damian Walsh-Howling as the local hyundai driving bad bay and of course Jack Charles with that wonderful hair and warm, authoritative voice.The film is a visual and audible delight, with squeaky gates and signs, animal noises, dramatic landscapes and some Tarantinoesque scenes the master director would be proud of.Throughout the film we see a small outback town struggling with entrenched racism and poverty and new blight on the landscape, illegal meth labs supported by a local cop. With those brooding eyes it's easy to see the angst Jay feels as we travel to massacre creek, slaughter hill and the textbook final shootout at Mystery Road.

excellent but not of a fine silken quality or in any way slick. Rather the characters were raw and gritty, which could explain some review comments suggesting wooden or poor acting.This movie felt like a fly on the wall view of the hard side of a tough life in the Australian outback, replete with huge social problems, racism, and defeated and depressed people tying to survive while drugs and crime were eating into the life of the area.As depressing as was the setting, funny enough, I was not in the least depressed by the movie. There was a strong ethical line and I felt throughout that good would make it in the end.This is a great movie without any big name actors, without fancy settings, without a great musical score, without great special effects, without bells or whistles of any description. It is totally minimalist art. It's greatness is in the excellent direction, the acting, the cinematography, and a decent enough plot.

must like to know more, or you wouldn't be reading this. Then it's the goods you seek, then here they are. I really Enjoyed this movie, the acting is all excellent, from the youngest to the oldest everyone held their own, the story is so very deep, and layered, and ends in the only way that it could. I recommend this movie to anyone who likes a good dramatic story with a lot of the mystery left for you, and the main character to discover together, you get this dealt out exceptionally well in fact. The beauty of the Australian Outback, with a great 3 way Sniper shootout that was inevitable Ryan Kwanten playing a villain is a nice extra treat as well.Jesse of www.Jesse.ca

this is not a problem I usually have. The plot is complex and not fully elucidated even at the end, and, so, to tell the truth, I am still trying to fully assemble it in my mind. Still, this movie's atmosphere and cinematography alone make it a winner, even if I haven't quite put it all together.

of a teenage Aboriginal girl, whose body has been discovered in the outskirts of the town. His investigations soon yield a great deal of uncomfortable information, including police corruption, sexual exploitation and the possible involvement in the crime of his ex-wife and daughter as well as sundry other local residents . The laconic detective has to contend with a complete lack of co-operation from his police colleagues and from the town's residents, who view any form of authority with suspicion and utter disdain. It all leads to a closing shoot-out sequence that is, for once, realistic and which is beautifully filmed. Indeed, one of the film's many strong points is its direction by screenplay writer Ivan Sen . The cinematography for which Sen is also responsible is amazingly good - just about the best I have seen in any film. The cast too are terrific, particularly Pedersen and Hugo Weaving who plays Johnno, a possibly corrupt white police colleague of Swan's . The only aspect of the film about which I have reservations is the plot, which does not seem to me to hang together. I may have missed something but there appear to be unexplained gaps in parts of the story. Other than that, "Mystery Road", which starts slowly before gradually building up to its dramatic conclusion, is an almost faultless film - and is certainly one that is worth looking out for. 8/10.

culture of small outback town wonderfully, as did the simple style of presenting different cultural landscapes within the one time. Great movie, will be watching again

such as "The Birthday Party""Mystery Road" is not edge of the seat, scary movie stuff either, but it involves the viewers intellect and emotions by allowing them to share in the aboriginal detective hero's quest as he works out how and why an Aboriginal teenage girl has been murdered. It seems a car containing drugs produced at the local drug laboratory has been stolen. Elements of the local police force have a "relationship" with the drug lab proprietors. A bikie gang also seems to be involved. The thief is a local drug dealer/police informer who is owed "favors" by some of the wilder, young, local aboriginal girls. He has arranged with one of them to hold the drugs for him until the fuss over their "disappearance" has died down. But which girl? It seems the likely suspects are being murdered with a view to scaring the girl with the drugs into returning them and facing the consequences. The hero detective finally discovers the whereabouts of the drugs, and the identity of the girl who has hidden them. He realizes the only solution is to return the drugs himself. The murderous lack of gratitude of their 'rightful' owners leads to the brilliantly staged final shootout.The discovery of what has happened to the drugs involves digging through the layers of different cultural milieus involved in their disappearance. In the process it says much about how those different milieus usually co-exist and what happens when they collide with each other. It is that collision that culminate in a shoot out worthy of a Sam Peckinpah movie at the end of the film. But this is no cheap and vulgar genre knock offThe cinematography seems to emerge from the paintings of Russell Drysdale. The final shoot out could be an updating of Tom Roberts' painting, 'In a corner on the Macintyre' 1895. Up there on the big screen for all to see is the undeniably horrible Australian architectural ugliness of a country town. This aesthetic hell hole of prefabricated housing has been plonked down in starkly beautiful, aeons old, dry and dusty countryside. The overhead shots of the town that recur throughout the film frame this ugliness in all its intellectually, emotionally and spiritually deprived, "Wasteland" emptiness.The actors are drawn from the cream of Australian screen thespians. Aaron Pedersen delivers a thoughtful and quietly compelling performance as the hero detective. The other actors have done their time on quality Australian crime mini series such as Underbelly as well as the usual breakfast cereal advertisements . The ethnic make up of the Australian population has undergone a dramatic change in the last fifty years, but these actors depict the pre-1970's White Australia Policy Eurocentric Australia that can still be found in country towns even those with Chinese restaurants as authentically as any you will ever see.The script, and that is where the necessary tension has its genesis, is so much better than the usual fare that makes its way to the screen. It has the authority and presence to deliver a riveting story, but poses an underlying question in a quietly understated but compelling manner.That question is, "How much worse could things be if all drug taking was decriminalized? "The film depicts the corruption that the unworkable drug laws have wrought among police forces around the world. The film depicts the hopelessness of people being turned into criminals merely because they turn to drug abuse to relieve the boredom of their empty lives. The film depicts the easy money available to psychopaths, sociopaths and plain, old fashioned lawless thugs who can gain instant riches from flouting the unworkable drug laws.I was underwhelmed by director Ivan Sen's, "Beneath Clouds", but this effort marks him out as an undeniably gifted film maker. If the film, "Chopper" could galvanize the Hollywood money guys into putting Andrew Dominik and Eric Banna onto their "A" lists, "Mystery Road" should do the same for director Ivan Sen and lead actor Aaron Pedersen