Goldstone
(2016)Where worlds collide.
Aaron Pedersen (Mystery Road), Alex Russell (Chronicle) and Oscar-nominee Jacki Weaver (Animal Kingdom) star in this outback crime thriller. A seemingly simple missing persons case leads to a complex web of corruption implicating the local Mayor, Mining Boss and Aboriginal Land Council.
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Directed by Ivan Sen ('Mystery Road', 'Beneath Clouds', 'Toomelah')
Starring Alex Russell, Aaron Pedersen, Jacki Weaver, David Wenham, David Gulpilil, Tom E. Lewis, Michelle Lim Davidson
Written by Ivan Sen
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Goldstone
BY cinemusefilm superstar
The film is framed around three characters in an isolated outpost called Goldstone: Detective Jay Swan (Aaron Pedersen); recently appointed local cop Josh (Alex Russell); and crooked Mayor (Jackie Weaver). Jay is there on a missing person case that soon reveals a web of corruption involving the Mayor, a greedy environmentally hostile mining company, and a prostitution ring that traffics young Asian women. Overlaying the pursuit of legal justice is Jay’s deep need to find a place where he belongs and Josh’s need for self-respect. Appearances by David Gulpilil symbolise deep love of country, and a canoe ride into the viscerally pulsating heart of the nation is the visual highlight of the story. All the elements of a great film are on the table but it struggles with issues of narrative and character plausibility.
The acting and dialogue are more in the style of caricature than authentic characterisation and the film’s portrayal of police operations challenges popular belief. Sweet, dimpled-faced Josh makes an unlikely tough cop, the Mayor is a parody of a crook, and the angst-ridden alcoholic Jay would not make detective anywhere in this country. The film asks us to suspend our understanding of legal process and see it as OK for a cop to be in control of a vehicle while rotten drunk, use lethal force without authorisation, do reckless vehicle pursuits and smash ups, and race into hostage scenarios with shotguns blazing near inhabited dwellings. The addition of Mad Max-style action and Priscilla-style parody creates tension between the film’s inner logic with the outside world which acts against it being taken as serious drama. Whatever faults it may have, Goldstone is a brilliantly photographed and entertaining crime thriller that foregrounds the spectacular Australian outback and pays respect to its ancestral heritage.Hide
The Press Reviews
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of critics recommend.
Rotten Tomatoes Score. More reviews on Rotten Tomatoes
A socially conscious, supremely accomplished procedural thriller. Full Review
Goldstone belongs to a suite of Australian films that contemplate land ownership in memorable ways... Full Review
The film delivers both as a thriller and as an expose. Full Review
An artful pot-boiler, a boiling, roiling poem of callousness and intrigue that operates as a very direct but never "on-the-nose" metaphor for no less than the history of Australian white settlement. Full Review
Unforgettable. Full Review
Sen arrives with a more engaging project, an identifiable location and genre but with a dose of character and idiosyncrasy, and this informs the performances as well. Full Review
Carefully-honed. Full Review
I came away with more rewards than not and Sen and Aaron Pederson have created a terrific character in Jay Swan with more than one movie in him. I hope he's back soon. Full Review
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