Before i watched this movie i expected a thriller because of the basic storyline. actually this is more a drama but that doesn't make it worse.The story itself is very intense and interesting, u can feel with the characters which probably may be because of the really great acting. Even if there isn't one great Hollywood actor in this movie.i would really suggest to watch this movie to everybody who likes movies with a deep story that takes you on a ride through a tragedy.Besides, i suggest to watch it carefully because it is not directed linear, so u have to be careful otherwise u maybe can't follow the story.

I enjoyed this movie very much. The story was great. The acting was great. The editing was great. The emotions were great. The way the story was told in various layers and twisted time was great. The scenery was great. This is the sort of suspense, psychological thriller that sets you thinking for hours after watching in order to put the various puzzle pieces together. Matthew MacFadyen did a marvelous job in living out the suppressed emotions and the loneliness of the main character. His performance was stunning and he fits the character completely and makes the audience feel his pain. It is such a huge loss that Brad McGann has left us. Would really really want to see many more from him as he is such a talented and meticulous man. May he rest in peace and this masterpiece of his will always be remembered. Probably one of the most under-appreciated movies of this century. Brad we miss you....

One of the most touching films I've seen in a long time, a complicated story that unwinds slowly but powerfully due the the directing and performances of the fine cast. This film really needs to be seen, it's been buried and badly handled in that it's not out there. I had the rare opportunity to see it at a special private screening...almost no one in the USA has seen it at all, in spite of heavy festival play. Emily Barclay who play the young girl and narrates much of the film is an emerging NZ talent in league with Keisha Castle-Hughes. Mathew McFayden gives a multi-layered and complicated performance as a man estranged from the family he left behind as a teenager. The casting is believable for every character and the audience is drawn into the story. Can you hear me Weinstein Brothers-- someone needs to pick this one up and run with it!

A flawless film about family dynamics: how one's childhood shapes the person he becomes. Paul Prior, played brilliantly by Matthew Macfadyen, returns home for his father's funeral after Paul had been away for years. Paul had left to escape a memory he could not handle, and attempts to leave it all in the past. Yet certain events unfold and he must relive the past, which is displayed in flashbacks that break up the narration of the present: an effect that only reminds the viewer that no one can ever escape the past, we all carry it with us. The setting of a small New Zealand home sets the atmosphere of isolation. There is also the imagery of the birds, the ostrich being a bird that cannot fly away, and the free birds that only fly when someone has died. Death seems to be the only way someone can escape.A wonderful film that needs more attention. The action is at times slow, but it builds and builds, and leaves you in shock. Paul's last line at the end are utterly tragic.