Proposition

Year: 2005

Grade: B-

Country: Australia

Director: Hillcoat

Review

the most notable thing about this picture isn’t its visual appeal or the fact that it’s written by nick cave or that it’s a particularly violent film; rather, it’s that ray winstone doesn’t play an out-of-control lunatic. i kid. seriously though, winstone is the least insane person in this film and that’s unusual for him. visually it sticks out from the norm, but i didn’t find it to be anything too remarkable. the look of a picture can enhance a film, but not make it. performances were all good. music was decent. all that said, i wasn’t really blown away by the film. i liked the unusual setting for a western (late 19th century australia) and the story was nice enough. what detracted from the film was the slow pace (i prefer quicker films like far country) and the lack of compelling characters (again, far country is a good example). intellectually some of the characters were done well enough, but none of them incited any emotional reaction so….