THE DRY (2020, Australia/USA, 117m, 15) ***
Crime, Drama
dist. IFC Films (USA), Sky Cinema (UK); pr co. Made Up Stories / Arenamedia / Cornerstone Films / Film Victoria / Media Super / Pick Up Truck Pictures / Screen Australia; d. Robert Connolly; w. Harry Cripps, Robert Connolly, Samantha Strauss (based on the novel by Jane Harper); pr. Eric Bana, Robert Connolly, Steve Hutensky, Jodi Matterson, Bruna Papandrea; ph. Stefan Duscio (Colour | 2.35:1); m. Peter Raeburn; ed. Alexandre de Franceschi, Nick Meyers; pd. Ruby Mathers; ad. Mandi Bialek-Wester.
cast: Eric Bana (Aaron Falk), Genevieve O’Reilly (Gretchen), Keir O’Donnell (Greg Raco), John Polson (Scott Whitlam), Julia Blake (Barb), Bruce Spence (Gerry Hadler), William Zappa (Mal Deacon), Matt Nable (Grant Dow), James Frecheville (Jamie Sullivan), Jeremy Lindsay Taylor (Erik Falk), Joe Klocek (Young Aaron Falk), BeBe Bettencourt (Ellie Deacon), Claude Scott-Mitchell (Young Gretchen), Sam Corlett (Young Luke), Miranda Tapsell (Rita Raco), Daniel Frederiksen (Dr. Leigh), Eddie Baroo (McMurdo), Renee Lim (Sandra Whitlam), Martin Dingle Wall (Luke Hadler), Francine McAsey (Amanda).
Slow, moody mystery based on Jane Harper’s harrowing novel in which Bana plays a police detective who returns to his drought-stricken hometown to attend a tragic funeral. His return opens a decades-old wound – the unsolved death of a teenage girl. Bana gives a sympathetic performance as the conflicted detective and he is decently supported. Connolly commendably conjures up the local atmosphere and focuses on the characters but does so at the expense of building dramatic tension until the denouement.
