The Dry

 This review may contain spoilers!

The Dry is an adaptation of the Jane Harper novel of the same name, in which we follow Federal Agent Aaron Falk as he returns to his drought-stricken hometown for the funeral of a childhood friend. When he's asked to look into the mysterious circumstances around the death, Falk finds himself caught between a mystery in the present and a personal mystery from the past. The really pleasant aspect of the storytelling is how nicely it blends the two main storylines: the murder that happened in the past and the one Falk is trying to solve in the present. The flashback storyline works so well because it paints a simpler, more idyllic time that you know is inevitably going to be disrupted and become the defining point of our protagonist, Aaron Falk, and the town in which he grew up. At the same time the present day storyline is a very calm case that examines desperate or prejudiced people at the end of their rope; people who don't trust Falk or who want nothing to do with the case. What I like is seeing how paranoid and desperate Falk gets as he clings to the notion that mystery he is trying to solve will reveal something about the mystery from his past. It's a nice parallel to the chaos and fallout that erupts in the flashback story as the body of Ellie is discovered. As the title indicates the setting is an inhospitable one and you see characters presented in their rawest form, antagonistic, hostile or in true desperate need. As each mystery comes to be revealed the way in which the storylines collide to paint these really intensive sequences between timelines is an astounding moment in the film. The cinematography captures the dry, inhospitable wastes of the setting, the location feels barren, desolate and so immense that it could swallow you whole. The score for the film is very discordant and harrowing, often picking away at the audience by concocting an unsettling atmosphere; the cover of 'Under the Milky Way' by BeBe Bettencourt is a defining track for this film in every way that counts.

 

Genevieve O'Reilly, who played Gretchen, has a lot of onscreen chemistry with Bana and their rekindled romance is a nice subplot to follow; O'Reilly has a moment in the film in which her character comes across as colder in a way that really shakes up character dynamics in the film for the positive. Keir O'Donnell, who played Raco, is excellent as the rookie cop who is seriously shaken by responding to the crime scenes in question; O'Donnell has a nice bond of friendship with Bana onscreen and he plays to his character striving to do well in his job excellently. Matt Nable, who played Grant Dow, truly steals the show for a lot of the first and second act; Nable has this very abrupt manner and is an extremely hostile persona throughout the feature. Eddie Baroo, who played the Bartender, is a minor role who has a strong comedic presence in the film; Baroo's light genuine delivery makes him feel like the kindly pillar of his onscreen community. Miranda Tapsell, who played Rita, is a fierce protector of her household and her onscreen husband; I liked how strong this character was and how little she feared to speak her mind. BeBe Bettencourt, who played Ellie Deacon, is quite an interesting role who has a vulnerable side that is well-explored in this film; Bettencourt really manages to subtly reveal how hurt her role has been by the harsh life she has lived under her onscreen father. 

However, the best performance came from Eric Bana, who played Aaron Falk. This leading role was fascinating because he was so calm, quiet and reserved throughout the feature, in a lot of ways he was the perfect vehicle for the audience to witness the mystery. Bana has this easy-going charisma in his performance that makes him warm and easy to like; this extends strongly to scenes with O'Reilly and O'Donnell. This role is really set apart by the mounting paranoia and desperate drive to resolve the case, you witness Falk brought right up to his breaking point in a couple of key scenes that feel unbearably tense. I felt that Bana plays the role as haunted, but as he confronts his ghosts he becomes tortured and by the time he finally uncovers the truth he seems entirely hollowed out by the ordeal he has just gone through.

The Dry is a fascinating thriller at its core, but there is no dying that this is a very slow burn thriller in every sense of the word. The story doesn't push the pace, taking a very casual and steady approach towards the investigation and exploration of the narrative. This does make the second act quite a laborious ordeal with a number of scenes that could have been tightened up to maximise engagement. The revelation of the killers for both the past and the present storylines is rather disappointing. Whitlam as an antagonist feels so unlikely and dissatisfying that his reveal is only salvaged by the films beautiful visual presentation, while Mal being Ellie's killer is a very predictable development. The editing for the film starts by setting a nice style of slipping between intriguing shots, but this isn't maintained for long and resorts to simple cuts as the feature progresses.

Bruce Spence, who played Gerry Hadler, is quite a muted patriarchal figure; Spence doesn't command much respect from other roles and the strength of his accusations against Bana's Falk never hit hard. James Frecheville, who played Sullivan, just plays to his character having something to hide without presenting much of a role; Frecheville struggles to make the revelation of his role's sexuality an appealing dramatic subplot. Sam Corlett, Joe Klocek and Claude Scott-Mitchell, who played Young Luke, Young Aaron and Young Gretchen respectively, don't put much into this film to mark them as anything other than stereotypical teens with a rebellious streak; Klocek in particular has a lot of responsibility to reveal how significant the event of Ellie's death impacts his role but this is never conveyed that well. Jeremy Lindsay Taylor, who played Erik Falk, was a very strange father figure role; he never seemed to measure up to how the role was described and he played the character as very intense at very bizarre moments. John Polson, who played Scott Whitlam, was a weak reedy character who really had to worm his way into scenes; Polson played an awkward antagonist who felt like a puzzle piece that didn't fit very well. William Zappa, who played Mal Deacon, was one of the more generic antagonists of the film; his confused old man bluster and anger was pretty simple in nature and presentation.

This is a thriller that manages to juggle intrigue and a breathtaking style. but struggles to bring the narrative to a truly satisfying twist. I would give The Dry a 7/10.