Jindabyne

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Jindabyne ★★½ 2006 (R)

Director Lawrence transports this Raymond Carver story from the Pacific Northwest to the mountainous southwest of Australia. Working-class buddies Stewart (Byrne), Carl (Howard), Rocco (Yiakmis), and Billy (Stone) go off for a weekend fishing trip. They quickly find a dead Aboriginal girl floating in the river and tie the body to a tree while they continue with their plans. When they finally report their discovery, all hell breaks loose: Stewart's wife Claire (Linney) is appalled at their callousness, there's the racial aspect (would they have left the body if she had been white?), and it turns out that the girl was murdered. Despite some strong performances, pic tends to be sluggish and underdeveloped. 123m/C DVD . AU Gabriel Byrne, Laura Linney, John Howard, Stelios Yiakmis, Deborra-Lee Furness, Leah Purcell, Chris Haywood, Alice Garner, Simon Stone, Sean Rees-Memyss, Eva Lazzaro, Tatea Reilly; D: Ray Lawrence; W: Beatrix Christian; C: David Williamson; M: Paul Kelly, Dan Luscombe.