I always enjoy good controversial "taboo' movies, if they are done right. And my list this week called form you guessed it, Incest! This will be only one of many films I watch this week, but my god, I hope they are all this good!!First, I am not going to spoil anything for anyone. With that out of the way, I did not know what to expect from this Australian film. But my oh my. This movie had it all. It was titillating, wrong, and yet so right at the same time. Had great characters and cinematography. The editing was spot on. Probably going to be my go to showcase how to do flash backs. Seriously well done!! It hit all the emotional cues as well. And left you depressed and hopeful at the same time.By the end I felt drained of emotion, the final minutes leading up to the credits are hard hitting. If your not to turned off by the 'incest' markings of this movie, I highly Recommend watching it. You will truly not be disappointed.

Ned Kendall (Ben Mendelsohn) has come back to the family home with young wannabe actress Toni (Maeve Dermody) after 20 years of absence. He must come to terms with his dying father Bruce (Bryan Brown), and resolve the death of his twin sister Kate (Sophie Lowe). There he finds his sister Sally (Rachel Griffiths) dutifully taking care of their mean spirited father in their old crumbling farm that is soon to be lost to the bank. Much of this movie goes into flashback mode. It's a much more compelling story in the past due mostly to Sophie Lowe's enigmatic performance. The present story is much more depressed, and it struggles under the weight of buried anger. There is a mystery of the family's past. There are deaths not talked about. The present day needs some more energy.

It's easy to pick on a movie that's based on a very good book because expectations are very high, and you have an idea in your head before you even see the movie. So I'm not going to make comparisons for the sake of it. Just one criticism that I cant see anyone who read the book will argue with, and that's the change of setting from Idaho to South Australia. The big problem here is that the American wilderness is never as "dead" as the Australian wilderness. In fact just look at the title of 'Deadheart' (another Bryan Brown film by coincidence).The impact of the change of setting is that the characters are so marooned and cut off. You never get that sense in the book, where the wilderness is their natural haven. That doesn't mean the actors aren't believable. They are and first time director Rachel Ward has done something special in relating the female experience. I felt every scene that worked, and the pacing is just right. I've read some ridiculous reviews that this is a film for women. Well it's not, it's about how women relate with their world in a universal way. That makes this a universal story and a movie worth seeing.

Director/screenwriter, Rachel Ward has created a very moving experience in Beautiful Kate. It's a story of a dysfunctional bush family, set in the dry but magnificent country around South Australia's Flinders Ranges. Ward's husband Bryan Brown doubles as producer and actor.The death of his wife left Bruce Kendall to bring up their young children, two boys and two girls. His macho, tough approach to parenting brought nothing but disaster. A explosive mixture of adolescent sexual awakening and outback isolation was compounded by his choice of home schooling through School of the Air. The young twins Ned (Scott O'Donnell)and Kate (Sophie Lowe) were especially close.When Bruce is dying, forty-year-old Ned (Ben Mendelsohn) returns to their property with his feisty girlfriend Toni (Maeve Dermody). Writer Ned starts to record his memories as a way of burying his ghosts or closet skeletons. When his sister leaves him as carer for several days, all the old wounds are reopened. The film is a journey towards the ubiquitous closure cliché. Bruce and Ned would find much more colourful synonyms for an ending, happy or otherwise.This is a remarkably talented cast. Brown gives one of his most convincing performances and Mendelsohn impresses throughout. Rachel Griffiths as youngest sibling Sally is rock solid. Lowe does a fine job steering clear of the potential overkill inherent in her very difficult role. Dermody's scenes with Brown leave us with the certainty that there is much more depth to her character than we meet on the surface. Scott O'Donnell is a capable actor though he lacks the cheekiness and charisma of either the young or mature Mendelsohn.The father/son confrontations are classics. Wall-flies would no doubt have enjoyed the rehearsals and off-screen banter. Rachel brings out the best and worst in both of them.Kate is a well paced and structured narrative using unfolding flashbacks very effectively. Despite its themes, it is not a dark or brooding film of the kind that has been criticised lately. At one stage the older Ned cries out, "I'm still here!" in despair. As he drives back to the big smoke, these words herald a new opening.Her feature film debut as director is a triumph for Rachel Ward.Cinema Takes http://cinematakes.blogspot.com/