I don't know it could be the second bottle of Sauv Blanc, Kelly McDonald does a really good Australian accent, the scenery is beautiful, but I don't know what the hell this movie is about.
I came to IMDb so I could understand why I am watching this movie... I still don't know, encouraging my dogs to do toilets is more understandable.
Dirt Music
2019
Action / Crime / Drama / Romance
Dirt Music
2019
Action / Crime / Drama / Romance
Plot summary
In Gregor Jordan's adaptation of the acclaimed novel by Tim Winton, the stunning landscape of Western Australia is the backdrop for an impassioned tale of love and grief. Stuck in a loveless relationship with legendary local fisherman Jim Buckridge (David Wenham),the despondent Georgie (Kelly Macdonald) becomes enamored with Lu (Garrett Hedlund),a young poacher who is encroaching on her tyrannical partner's territory. A reticent loner with a tragic past who gave up his life as a musician, Lu is wary of letting Georgie in. But their fervent attraction gets the better of them, and secrets are uncovered that will change their lives. When Jim finds out about the affair, Lu flees into the punishing terrain with no intention of returning, and Georgie sets off on a chase to bring her lover back. Three tempestuous characters, worn down by traumas, find themselves bound together and forced to face one another's inner conflicts in this blistering outback melodrama. Fuelled by the palpable chemistry between Hedlund and Macdonald, both superb here, Jordan creates a rousing romance set against unrelenting natural forces. Each character, including the overbearing Buckridge, is drawn with complex interior motivations. Dirt Music is about laying bare our vulnerabilities, and love's capacity to heal our deepest wounds.
Uploaded by: FREEMAN
Director
Top cast
Tech specs
720p.BLU 1080p.BLU 720p.WEB 1080p.WEBMovie Reviews
Some Arsty fartsy movie
adaptation
Georgie (Kelly Macdonald) is the long-suffering wife of successful lobster fisherman Jim Buckridge (David Wenham). He lives in his late father's shadow and she is struggling with loneliness. He accuses her of cheating. She encounters poacher Lu Fox (Garrett Hedlund) while skinny dipping.
This is adapted from an Australian award-winning novel. I like all three performers. I like the broken marriage and the emotionally troubled romance. I like the performances but the scenes feel disjointed. What I really dislike is the last act. I'm sure that it's all in the book and I'm sure that it works in the book. It doesn't work on the screen. It feels jammed together and too connected. It's too convenient and wrapped up. I'm sure the problem boils down to trying to transfer the book onto the screen.
A talent-filled Aussie production that fails to hit the high notes
Considering the last Tim Winton cinematic adaptation before Dirt Music was 2017's memorable and effective Breath, hopes were high that Gregor Jordan's talent-filled Western Australia set romantic drama would be more of the same, tapping into local audiences affections as well as those overseas who were seeking a new bout of Australian drama to fill their needs.
Sadly this was not to be.
Receiving a tepid at best response upon first showings way back in 2019, Jordan's star-studded local film is a complete and utter failure of a feature that is loosely strung together by a cold and emotionless "romance" between Kelly Macdonald's lonely Georgie, whose tiresome relationship with David Wenham's barely used fisherman Jim leads her to seek out an affair with Garret Hedlund's mysterious ex-muso Lu, a man whose past is holding him back from moving into the future.
Famous for his way with words, Winton's works have always been well-regarded in book circles and there's potential somewhere deep down in this tale of lost souls finding a way through thanks to each other but neither Jordan, whose proven before he can handle a good film with the likes of Two Hands and Buffalo Soldiers standing out in his C.V or the usually fantastic scribe Jack Thorne (a long term Shane Meadows collaborator and the man responsible for adapting hit TV series His Dark Materials) manage to ever get Dirt Music out of first gear as the film loses its audience early on to a procession of instances and occurrences that happen without an ounce of build up or ground work to lead into them.
For an Australian film, Dirt Music is clearly a more prestigious local production than most, the West Australia backdrops make for some stunning eye candy and deserve a better film to live in and the talent on screen is of the highest order but all main actors get very little too work with and potentially even feel miscast with the usually reliable Macdonald struggling to get much happening (including a very odd Oz accent, very different to her native Irish tongue),Wenham getting nothing of substance too do and the up and down Hedlund once more appearing to be lost in a feature even though you know there's a great actor hiding within him somewhere.
It makes one wonder why more local talent couldn't be used also. No doubt its easier to sell a film overseas with more recognisable international faces but surely there's actors capable of performing well in such a film, especially when no one was appearing to offer quality control to a film that has no soul, focus or imagination present within it.
Final Say -
The locations are nice. That's about as much as you could say in the way of good things about this sadly D.O.A Australian affair. Wasting source material from one of our countries most respected writers and the talents of three capable performers, Dirt Music strikes a dull note from the moment it starts until the moment it ends on a whimper.
1 sand dune out of 5