Friday, January 13, 2006

In My Father's Den (Brad McGann, 2004)

Paternity, paternity. As the title suggests this is its theme, but with a surprising reversal. It's a tragedy yet the ending is carefully arranged to give a little soothing effect. The whole picture is beautifully done. Desolate central Otago (I think the town is Roxburgh) is scaringly beautiful (a little like Arizona but much colder). This film surely tells about the kiwi spirit--excentric, gloomy, independent, filled with yearning for other places of the world, reticent, and ultimately sad.