Tracks - Movie Review
Rating: 3 out of 5
The true story behind this movie just about makes up for its oddly flat tone, which never quite captures either the grandeur of the Australian Outback or the deeper emotions of the people on-screen. The acting is superb, but director John Curran (The Painted Veil) opts for a warm, slick style when something much spikier was called for.
It's the story of Robyn Davidson (Mia Wasikowska), a young woman who in 1975 decided to walk nearly 2,000 miles from Alice Springs to the western coast as a way of connecting with her explorer father, who vanished on a similar trek. She needs at least three camels to carry her supplies, so she spends nearly a year working for camel dealers (Rainer Bock and John Flaus) learning how to care for the animals and earning cash to buy them. She also gets sponsorship cash from National Geographic magazine, which sends photographer Rick Smolan (Adam Driver) along to document the trip, which is a series of amazing encounters, beautiful landscapes and colourful local customs.
Wasikowska is superb as the plucky young woman who drops out of society to take on this mind-boggling challenge. In a nicely understated performance, she conveys Robyn's steely courage and tenacity, as well as her reluctance to accept the help she needs. The most inspiring aspect of the story is Robyn's ultimate observation: "I'd like to think an ordinary person is capable of anything." So it's a bit frustrating that Curran keeps trying to turn her into a movie heroine, complete with sun-drenched childhood flashbacks and a tetchy romance with the always-terrific Driver.
At least the film looks amazing, with a range of colours as Robyn crosses from red deserts to landscapes that are washed in shades of brown, white, green and blue. Although by focussing on the simplistic emotions, Curran never lets the film take off into the epic it so clearly should be. The film sharply captures elements of Aboriginal culture along the way, with lively characters and some thrilling adventures. But it never quite reveals either the vast scale of the land or the depth of Robyn's motivation.
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Facts and Figures
Year: 2013
Genre: Dramas
Run time: 112 mins
In Theaters: Thursday 6th March 2014
Box Office USA: $0.5M
Distributed by: The Weinstein Company
Production compaines: Rainbow Film Company, The
Reviews
Contactmusic.com: 3 / 5
Rotten Tomatoes: 81%
Fresh: 89 Rotten: 21
IMDB: 7.2 / 10
Cast & Crew
Director: John Curran
Producer: Iain Canning, Emile Sherman
Screenwriter: Marion Nelson
Starring: Dennis Hopper as 1st Sgt. Jack Falen, Taryn Power as Stephanie, Dean Stockwell as Mark, Topo Swope as Chloe, Alfred Ryder as The Man, Zack Norman as Gene
Also starring: Mia Wasikowska, Adam Driver, Rainer Bock, Emma Booth, Emile Sherman