The Dry review

[Westside Steve]

The Dry

IFC

R.        118 min

 

 I was perusing some random click bait site about good movies that would be streaming. As it turns out this Australian mystery flick is available now for early access but should hit the theatres presently, maybe even by the time of publication.

 Here Eric Bana is Aaron Falk a big city cop who has come back to his hometown in a drought-stricken area known as THE DRY.   Many years ago, one of his childhood friends, Ellie, drowned in the swimming hole the kids would frequent. Though no one really knew what happened everyone seems to be suspicious of Luke. Of course, the reason for Falk’s return is a funeral, as it appears Luke has killed his family and later himself with a shotgun. Luke’s parents can’t believe he would commit such a heinous act and beseechs Falk to remain and help.   He agrees but then it becomes very evident that there are people in town that don't want him there and don't want his help.  Since it’s a mystery it’s pretty clear that the person with the most suspicion cast upon him will be the least likely to be the culprit. And there really are a lot of different directions this could go. There are love triangles love quadrangles gambling debt land swindles jealousy, even sex abuse and incest being hinted at. Add to that brew that nobody can be trusted to be telling the truth, not even Aaron. The whole thing is a little bit slow and understated but that's not really my slight problem with it. There are just so many different ways we could find out what happened that when the revelation comes it's almost as if they made it up on the spot.  I much prefer a climax in which you can point to different episodes during the film and say AHA I should have noticed that. It doesn’t exactly come right out of thin air but it does lack that certain wow quality. I was considering a C+ but after further consideration decided to give it the benefit of the doubt.

B-

WSS