The Dry

This is a version of a review airing on ABC Radio Ballarat and South West Victoria on January 22, 2021, and ABC Central Victoria on January 18, 2021.

(MA15+) ★★★½

Director: Robert Connolly.

Cast: Eric Bana, Genevieve O'Reilly, Keir O'Donnell, John Polson, Joe Klocek, BeBe Bettencourt, Claude Scott-Mitchell, Sam Corlett, Matt Nable, Julia Blake, Bruce Spence, Miranda Tapsell, James Frecheville, William Zappa.

Nice day for a visit to the silos.

Jane Harper's dust-and-blood crime thriller The Dry is one of the best Aussie debut novels of all time, and its success is absolutely warranted. Tightly plotted and deeply evocative of drought-stricken Australia, it's a helluva read and well deserving of a cinematic adaptation.

Up on the big screen, the taut storyline sings as sweetly as it did from Harper's pen, and its themes of rural hardship are just as poignant. But crammed into a two-hour runtime, character motives don't feel as settled or developed as they could be, and the main character in particular seems too aloof and distant to really get behind.

The story centres on the fictional Mallee town of Kiewarra, where an apparent murder suicide leaves the community shaken. The funeral brings Federal Police officer Aaron Falk (Bana) back to his hometown and stirs up memories and rumours surrounding another death - that of Ellie Deacon, some 20 years earlier. Falk, against his better judgment, finds himself digging into the past as he tries to help a grieving family get to the bottom of what really happened. 

Bana is a talented actor, but his rendition of Falk is too cold. He captures the haunted aspects, but not so much the heart of the role. Bana is still a magnetic presence though, and keeps us watching, even with we seem to only barrack for Falk by default rather than emotional compulsion. 

Better is O'Reilly as Falk's old friend Gretchen, nailing down the emotional anguish of the piece, even if the script doesn't quite nail her motivations. The young performers, Klocek and Bettencourt in particular, are also great, as are Polson as the local principal, O'Donnell as the local cop, and Nable as the local dickhead. A cameo from Tapsell is also welcome, as is the steady gravitas of Spence.

Connolly's direction is sound, and does a good job of capturing the isolation, if not the oppressive heat, of rural life in a drought. See Wake In Fright for a great example of how the intense intangible hotness can be brought to the screen - in The Dry, those high temperatures never quite register, despite the parched landscapes, which are beautifully filmed.

The dueling timelines are juggled well, and the regular flashbacks don't become annoying because the story is so compelling. It's only a few inconsistencies in character and an apparent lack of motivation at times that hamper proceedings.

But these are all minor problems, and perhaps my judgment is coloured by a love of the novel. The film does a fine job of capturing what makes the original story so strong, and the flaws don't detract from that. Like a good cover song, the film has understood what made the original work so well, even if this version is a little pitchy at times.