The draw of this film for me was to see Meryl Streep in the role that brought her her 8th career Oscar nomination. She plays Lindy Chamberlain, a woman whose baby went missing on a camping trip and who subsequently was tried for her murder when people started to doubt her version of events (that a dingo ran off with the baby).
This is a pretty decent film. Nothing about it ever rises much above the middlebrow, but what's there is engaging, and it paints an effective picture of the role media and public opinion play in, here, the Australian judicial system, but the same is true for anywhere.
The film's biggest flaw is its editing, which is ragged and choppy. The editor may have been hoping the quick pace would add to the film's forward momentum, but it instead makes the film feel underdeveloped, scenes just flying by without being fully fleshed out. It almost made me wonder if the editor didn't have a lot of great material to work with and was trying to make the best out of a less than ideal situation.
This film is probably most known for the "Seinfeld" episode where Elaine hilariously quotes it (misquotes it, as it happens) at a party.
Grade: B+
This is a pretty decent film. Nothing about it ever rises much above the middlebrow, but what's there is engaging, and it paints an effective picture of the role media and public opinion play in, here, the Australian judicial system, but the same is true for anywhere.
The film's biggest flaw is its editing, which is ragged and choppy. The editor may have been hoping the quick pace would add to the film's forward momentum, but it instead makes the film feel underdeveloped, scenes just flying by without being fully fleshed out. It almost made me wonder if the editor didn't have a lot of great material to work with and was trying to make the best out of a less than ideal situation.
This film is probably most known for the "Seinfeld" episode where Elaine hilariously quotes it (misquotes it, as it happens) at a party.
Grade: B+