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Justin Kurzel

Snowtown – Justin Kurzel (2011)

  • drama

Jamie grows up in an Australian slum town. His single parent mother tries her best with four sons, but things are hard. Life in general is hard and everybody vents his/her frustrations to the ones closest.

Then mother Elizabeth meets a man who is good to her and her sons. Too good perhaps. He evens runs some sort of neighborhood vigilante group, often inviting the neighbors for meetings.

Soon it becomes clear that Gavin’s group is somewhat over active. Are they actively looking for pedophiles and homosexuals to take care off? Are these people even what somebody says they are or is everybody too afraid to not be able to present victims to Gavin?

Jamie is a quiet boy, which is not strange as you will soon learn. Initially Gavin is some sort of father figure, but just as with his group, Gavin’s idea of making a man out of Jamie good way off into the extreme.

“Snowtown” is quite a heavy drama. You better not know more about the story than the above. Story wise it would have been easy for this film to have been a thriller of sorts, but instead of focusing on Gavin, the film is mostly about Jamie.

Not great, but especially since the film is based on true events, a somewhat disturbing film.

Macbeth * Justin Kurzel (2015)

  • drama

A slow, bleak and minimalistic film of Shakespeare’s famous play. The film also has a slow, bleak and minimalistic soundtrack with soundscapes with sometimes some ‘folky’ elements. It reminds a bit of Wardruna here and there, but without vocals.

The story is probably known. The lauded, Scotish warrior Macbeth sees a chance to rise up the ladder, but when this chance drops, he and his wife pick up the plan to become king another way. Macbeth proves himself to be a despotic king who gets rid of anyone he think could block his plans.

Kurzel’s film makes a nice watch. It is a good film, but I did not particularly like it. Perhaps it is better for some windy autumn evening rather than a midsummer’s night.