Excellent representation of a true story about a family in distress, driven by the members' needs to claw to their own separate peaces.
Casting is excellent. Geoffrey Rush continues to top his remarkable career peformances. His work here is completely engrosing. Watching him in this film completely voids your mind and leaves you with nothing but a brilliant piece of performance art. No distractions.
The rest of the cast are great too. Judy Davis is as credible as Rush, her character's personality comes right off the screen. The various age groups of child actors playing the brood of 5 kids are well cast, masterfully directed, and totally comfortable in their roles. Direction is remarkable throughout. One minor confusion is caused by the sons who excepting Tony, are by times confusing to identify. This is perhaps testimony to the fine casting effort for family resemblance, but it helps the viewer to follow the story if you get the names down when they are youngest, and can place them each time they age. This is critical because one of the driving forces to this story are the collective relationships between father and each particular son.
This movie is better than you could ever expect. While already world-accomplished, Aussie film is now consistently proving that it is amongst the best of the best - in the world.
Casting is excellent. Geoffrey Rush continues to top his remarkable career peformances. His work here is completely engrosing. Watching him in this film completely voids your mind and leaves you with nothing but a brilliant piece of performance art. No distractions.
The rest of the cast are great too. Judy Davis is as credible as Rush, her character's personality comes right off the screen. The various age groups of child actors playing the brood of 5 kids are well cast, masterfully directed, and totally comfortable in their roles. Direction is remarkable throughout. One minor confusion is caused by the sons who excepting Tony, are by times confusing to identify. This is perhaps testimony to the fine casting effort for family resemblance, but it helps the viewer to follow the story if you get the names down when they are youngest, and can place them each time they age. This is critical because one of the driving forces to this story are the collective relationships between father and each particular son.
This movie is better than you could ever expect. While already world-accomplished, Aussie film is now consistently proving that it is amongst the best of the best - in the world.