Laura Linney and Gabriel Byrne star in JindabyneI had Jindabyne on my wish list long before Matt's A+ review, but that piece of wholesome praise (to put it mildly) only served to convince me that I had something special to look forward to. The reason I had my eye on this one is that it stars one of the most watchable actresses of her generation. Movie years nominations in 2003 and 1998, and an Actress of the Year award in 2000 for her simply stunning turn in You Can Count on Me, should tell you that I'm a fan. Linney is a totally captivating actress with great emotional depth, and there a few better than her working today. So with Matt's enthusiasm for Jindabyne and mine for Linney I went in to this with pretty high hopes.
To summarise the plot of Jindabyne you'd probably say 4 guys go fishing, find a dead body on their first day, but not wanting to spoil the trip they fish for a couple of days before contacting the police. The rest of the film follows the fall-out of their decision. Yet it takes a good hour for any of this to actually happen. The opening 60 minutes in which we amble along in the company of Linney, Byrne and co are not what I'd call gripping. There's no plot to speak of, the characters are not that interesting. Ray Lawrence's insistence in cutting every scene short with a fade to black had me wanting to put my fist through the screen. It's particularly galling on the 90 minute mark when it follows a major confrontation between Linney and Byrne - the best scene in the film. Instead of a lingering shot to let you take in the emotional gravitas of the scene, Lawrence has faded out around half a nanosecond after the last line of dialogue. I've just seen a film with a 4 minute static shot on George Clooney and it was fantastic. Oh to have those sensibilities rather than these. I recall now that he did the same thing in Lantana (at least I think he did) - I don't think I was particularly impressed then either.
Jindabyne is based on the Raymond Carver short story also featured in Robert Altman's Short Cuts. Now Altman is never one to rush a scene so automatically I enjoyed that more, but I think the main reason Short Cuts is far superior is the fact that it is based on a several Carver stories rather than just one. I don't think that Beatrix Christian has successfully adapted his short into a 120 minute feature. Apart from that slow first act, we have the presence of the killer popping up throughout the film, when he could have been excised completely and the film been stronger. But worst of all, a ludicrous 3 minute song at the girl's funeral that's just awful to sit through. And because there's too much padding here, Lawrence cuts short the genuinely successful scenes just to make room.
It's a great idea for a short story and does pose some interesting questions. Personally I don't find what the men did all that objectionable. The likelihood that the police would be in a better position to solve the case is slim so the only real ethical quandary is whether there's a family going through hell that need to be put out of their misery. For that reason they should have reported it immediately but maybe they didn't think of that. The allegations levelled at the men of racism or sexism are well wide of the mark, although Clare has a point when she asks if he'd have left a boy in the stream instead of a young woman. Somehow it seems a harder thing to do. I guess then that the men are guilty of ageism.
Jindabyne is out on DVD now.
C
