Goldstone – movie review

Ivan Sen prefers to call his latest film Goldstone a follow up to the acclaimed and award winning thriller Mystery Road rather than a sequel, in much the same way that They Call Me Mister Tibbs was not a sequel to the Oscar winning In The Heat Of The Night. However it’s not as compelling or as convincing as Mystery Road.

We are reintroduced to indigenous detective Jay Swan (Aaron Pedersen, reprising his role from Mystery Road), but since the events of the last film he seems to have found himself in a dark place personally. He is battling his own inner demons, and  has been drinking again and seems angry at the world.

He heads to a remote mining town of Goldstone to investigate the mysterious disappearance of a young Chinese girl. But when he arrives he uncovers a web of crime and corruption, and a sex slavery ring. His presence makes the locals nervous. Swan also clashes with the local cop Josh (Alex Russell, from Chronicle) who arrests him for drink driving. But Josh has been compromised by his dealing with the town’s power brokers. Jay also has to deal with the town’s powerful but corrupt mayor (Jacki Weaver) and Johnny  (David Wenham), the head of the mining company who seems to control the town. Eventually though Swan manages to prick Josh’s conscience about the sinister events happening in his town and the pair reluctantly team up to expose the dark underbelly.

Goldstone follows the tropes of the classic western with its story of a stranger who comes into a hostile town and sets about trying to clean it up of its corrupt elements, albeit given a neo-noir like contemporary flavour. Sen himself admits that Clint Eastwood’s Unforgiven was a big influence on the tone of the film.

The outback locations add an air of foreboding and menace. As usual, Sen has shot the film himself, and his cinematography captures the harsh beauty of the sparse sun drenched landscapes and gives the film a stunning visual quality. There are also some stunning aerial shots that emphasise the vastness of the setting and the insignificance of man in this natural environment.

Pedersen is much more taciturn here; he has a much more passive presence and is given minimal dialogue. Russell has a strong presence as the naive young cop who seems to be in over his head and he is the real star of the film. Pedersen and Russell develop a dramatic tension between their two contrasting characters. Weaver seems to be channelling her evil matriarch from Animal Kingdom here, while Wenham makes for a suitably slimy company boss. David Gulpilil contributes a small but effective role as an Aboriginal elder who shows Swan that strong and ancient connection to the land that they share.

Sen weaves ambitious themes of indigenous heritage and history and spirituality, the stolen generation, land rights, corporate greed and the exploitation of the mineral wealth, and the clash of cultures into the texture of a fairly conventional mystery movie. The film opens with a series of sepia toned photographs from the gold rush era that hark back to Australia’s past

The plot is a little too convoluted and there are many holes in the film’s logic that remain unanswered. Sen repeats many ideas from Mystery Road here – such as the climactic shootout, the small town cop whom Swan is unsure of – and he again captures that small town dynamic with its secrets and air of mistrust. However, the material lacks that freshness and originality of Mystery Road. Goldstone seems more derivative and cliched. Sen’s pacing of his tale is uneven and many of the characters are unfortunately cliched.

Director: Ivan Sen
Cast: Aaron Pedersen, Alex Russell,  David Wenham, Alex Russell, Jacki Weaver, David Gulpilil
Release Date: 7 July 2016
Rated: M (Mature themes, violence and coarse language ), 110 mins

Greg King