This is mostly ruined by the direction for me. Not only do parts of it meander and drag, but every scene is shot and edited with basic coverage. It’s all just a bunch close ups stitched together with shot/reverse shot editing, flat lighting and boring colours, all of which make the film forgettable to me. The story is alright, feeling slightly more authentic than the usual film tackling this subject matter. I like that it’s set in small scale Australian locations, not New York. There’s a ‘twist’ in it (which is given away in the synopsis for some reason?) that I frankly saw coming from a mile away. It’s all competent, but it never pops. The characters are a mixed big; the family consists of some good characters (not to mention the amazing cast they assembled for those roles), but the main protagonist is extremely boring and portrayed by an actor who seems to have no range whatsoever. I also hated the narration: it seemed like an afterthought to dumb the film down just a little more. All the information given through that massive exposition dump in the first 10 minutes would still be clear if they’d taken it out. It doesn’t completely drop the ball at any point, but this could’ve been much better with stronger direction.

4.5/10