Last week I had the privilege to attend the Brisbane premiere of new Aussie flick 'Mystery Road' with the director, Ivan Sen, and lead actor, Aaron Pederson, in attendance. While the boys didn't seem to have prepared their speeches, the off the cuff introductions gave us the indication that this was a 'campfire' story. And so it was. And it's a film that should be seen.
Mystery Road is very well named, as it follows Jay Swan (Pederson), an Aboriginal man from an unnamed outback town who has just returned home a qualified detective, as he tries to unravel the mystery of the murder of a young Aboriginal girl. The girl is a teenager, and one that Jay actually knows as she is a friend of his daughter. Despite Jay's desire to launch a major investigation, the sergeant advises that there are not enough resources available and Jay will have to look into it himself. There's too many drug busts and other crimes to deal with (the film is set in the present day). This leads to a great amount of good old fashioned detective work, building up slowly to a white knuckle suspenseful ending.
The film has attracted an absolute top shelf Aussie cast which is a lot of fun as you play "hey that's X". Aaron Pederson gives a very powerful performance as the dogged detective, as he runs up against a lot of people accusing him of betraying his Aboriginal heritage as a cop (from white and black people alike) and has a few run-ins with his ex-wife (Tasma Walton) and tries to connect with his estranged daughter and protect her. His previous appearances on police procedurals such as Wildside, Water Rats and City Homicide) have given him the necessary experience to pull off the lone wolf detective. I didn't realise it at the time, but he is in virtually every scene of the film which keeps the focus nice and tight as we work through the 'who' and 'how' of the murder. Unlike other films which show the action from different points of view, by staying with the detective we only know as much as he knows at any point in time and are trying to figure it out along with him. It's an understated but undeniably strong performance.
Pederson is ably backed by the rest of the cast including Tony Barry as the police sergeant who is suspiciously relaxed about the murder, Hugo Weaving as "Johnno" who leads the drug squad and is acting suspiciously, David Field as the owner of a farm near where the girl is found who acts suspiciously when questioned, Damian Walshe-Howling as the local drug dealer who acts suspiciously, Ryan Kwanten as a suspicious kangaroo hunter living on the aforementioned farm, small cameos from Bruce Spence, Jack Thompson and Ray Billing etc etc. You get my drift here I think: everyone is acting suspiciously. Red herrings galore! The mystery will have you thinking, but the next day I had pieced it all together and found it very satisfactory.
Ivan Sen, the Aussie director still best known for "Beneath Clouds", has done an amazing job with the film. It looks absolutely beautiful, filmed on location in Winton (outback town in Queensland) where you can get rundown homes in suburbia, grassy farms and red desert and some of the most beautiful lighting in the morning and evening. As well as directing, he was also the writer, composer of the music, cinematographer and editor. Wow! The film is a triumph of well paced storytelling, strong acting and stunning visuals. I really recommend you give this your time.
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