Bovie Movie

A family is touched by the shadows of hatred and violence in this Australian drama adapted from a short story by Raymond Carver. Stewart (Gabriel Byrne) and Claire (Laura Linney) are a married couple in their early 40’s; Stewart runs a gas station while Claire looks after their son Tom (Sean Rees-Wemyss). Tom has been grounded for the weekend after killing a small animal with his friend Caylin (Eva Lazzaro), and Claire keeps an eye on him while Stewart goes off on a fishing trip with his pals Carl (John Howard), Rocco (Stelios Yiakmis) and Billy (Simon Stone). After arriving at their favorite fishing spot, Stewart finds the naked body of a woman floating down the river; unknown to him, Gregory (Chris Haywood), an elderly man riddled with race hatred, killed Susan (Tatea Reilly), a young woman of Aboriginal heritage, and dumped her body in the water. Believing they wouldn’t be able to drive to town to report finding the body and get back to make camp before nightfall, Stewart decides to wait until morning to contact the police, and ties a line to the corpse so it won’t float away. The next morning, Stewart and his friends decide not to spoil their trip and spend the day fishing; they don’t contact the police until after they return home on Monday. Stewart’s callous actions cast an ugly light on himself, his friends and his family, and Claire finds herself implicated in the crime through Stewart’s poor judgment. Named for an Aborigine word for a valley, Jindabyne received its world premiere at the 2006 Cannes Film Festival.

Director Alister Grierson teams with screenwriter John Lonie for this Aussie war drama exploring the fate of a missing patrol of Australian soldiers in World War II-era New Guinea. As Japanese troops continue their advance towards Port Moresby with an eye on invading Australia next, the task of defending the treacherous Kokoda Trail is left to uninitiated volunteers (derisively known as “chocos”) due to the fact that the big guns are on deployment elsewhere. When the ramshackle platoon receives confirmation of the impending assault and their supply lines are cut off without warning, mud-caked “choco” Jack Scholt (Jack Finsterer), his brother Max (Simon Stone), die-hard Darko (Travis McMahon), and skittish Johnno (Tom Budge) all prepare for the worst. Their ranks fast thinning thanks to the deadly accurate sharp shooting of an unseen enemy, the hardened Aussie soldiers do their best to protect the homeland or die trying.