An indigenous detective returns to the Outback to investigate the murder of a young girl.An indigenous detective returns to the Outback to investigate the murder of a young girl.An indigenous detective returns to the Outback to investigate the murder of a young girl.
- Awards
- 9 wins & 16 nominations
- Director
- Writer
- All cast & crew
- Production, box office & more at IMDbPro
Storyline
Did you know
- TriviaMuch of this film is shot in the small Australian town of Winton. Mystery Road held its first screening there. Some of iconic Australian film, Crocodile Dundee, was shot there (The Walkabout Creek Pub Scene).
- GoofsWhen the detective pulls up to Mary's house, she is watering the lawn with a hose. But when Mary calls Crystal to come out, she no longer has the hose and it isn't on the ground when the scene widens. When Crystal walks over to the detective's car, Mary once again has hose in hand, watering.
- Quotes
[first lines]
Detective Jay Swan: [waking to answer the phone] Yeah? Alright. OK...
[rolls out of bed]
Robbo: [greeting his arrival on scene] Jay...
Detective Jay Swan: G'day, Robbo. What's the story?
Robbo: The truckie pulled up to check his trailers, heard a wild dog growling from under the bridge, smelt something rotten.
Detective Jay Swan: How did he know it was a wild dog?
Robbo: Guess he just knows the difference, I suppose. You know, between a wild dog and a wild kind of normal dog.
So how did it get me? I guess because it struck me as believable - the characters, the places, the story. Having visited the edge of the Auz outback I fully related to the backgrounds and the characters. The texture and feel of the presentation struck me as the genuine article. I have said it before about top quality film directing - that the feel was more like a documentary with real people and not actors.
The acting was excellent but not of a fine silken quality or in any way slick. Rather the characters were raw and gritty, which could explain some review comments suggesting wooden or poor acting.
This movie felt like a fly on the wall view of the hard side of a tough life in the Australian outback, replete with huge social problems, racism, and defeated and depressed people tying to survive while drugs and crime were eating into the life of the area.
As depressing as was the setting, funny enough, I was not in the least depressed by the movie. There was a strong ethical line and I felt throughout that good would make it in the end.
This is a great movie without any big name actors, without fancy settings, without a great musical score, without great special effects, without bells or whistles of any description. It is totally minimalist art. It's greatness is in the excellent direction, the acting, the cinematography, and a decent enough plot.
- irishsounds
- Feb 24, 2015
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Details
Box office
- Budget
- A$3,000,000 (estimated)
- Gross worldwide
- $280,702
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