TIFF Movie Review – Mystery Road (2013)

As the sun fades away on a desolate road a truck comes to a halt with the driver conducting an inspection of the vehicle; the howl of a wild dog leads him to discover a bitten corpse of a young Aboriginal girl sitting upright in a concrete drainage pipe.

The murder investigation is led by an Aboriginal detective Jay Swan (Aaron Pedersen) who has returned to place of his childhood after spending time in the big city; even though he is a native of the area no one seems to want him around.  Swan is completely isolated and disconnected from the outback community which includes his teenage daughter and alcoholic ex-wife.

Midst the quiet exterior of the surroundings Jay Swan uncovers a dark underbelly that involves teenage girls having sex with truck drivers, drugs, and the breeding of genetically enhance dogs.  There may also be the issue of police corruption in the form of Hugo Weaving (Cloud Atlas) who is almost unrecognisable underneath a grizzly beard.

A sign of bad things will happen to Jay Swan is when an Aboriginal boy on a bicycle makes a gun with his hand and declares, “We hate coppers.  We kill coppers.” There is also the matter of a young police officer who was killed when he started asking similar questions.

Filmmaker Ivan Sen (Beneath Clouds) wrote, directed, edited, scored, and photographed the quiet mystery thriller so it is understandable as to why all of those elements blend so seamlessly together.  Aaron Pederson (Bad Karma) embodies a man who unassumingly goes about his business while absorbing every little detail.  Outside of the high look down shots that are used as scene transitions, the camera focuses on the protagonist of the tale thereby heightening the sense of his isolation.

Aaron Pederson takes on the persona of the sheriff determined that justice will rule the day as was the case with Gary Cooper in High Noon (1952).  There is a scene where Pederson has a table discussion with Hugo Weaving which echoes the one between Robert De Niro and Al Pacino in Heat (1995) and the conclusion is a stripped down version of the shootout finale featured in L.A. Confidential (1997). 

As much as the restraint in showing violence and not having sex complicate matters is a refreshing change, Mystery Road plods along without taking the time to explore many of the storylines.  The meticulous craftsmanship cannot be denied but the addition of spontaneity to the proceedings would have elevated the cinematic experience.