Ray Lawrence

Australian bloke.

Jindabyne (2006) -- The premise of the Raymond Carver Story "Too Much Water So Close To Home," that a group of guys on a fishing trip overlook a dead body in order to continue their fun, is interesting enough, but this movie wants to throw in not only an Aboriginal racial twist, but about two or three dozen other things that just don't make sense: a weird little girl who seems to be a "bad seed" type character (gutting rodents, almost drowning little boys, etc.), a necrophilia element to Gabriel Byrne's character and a seemingly hidden past that never comes out, a mysterious Duel-inspired (and Mike from Fire Walk With Me inspired) serial killer that kills a bee at the end and rips a P of of the victim's car for no reason (letter obsessed?), a fish-partner who gets creeped out by buzzing electricity while taking a piss, a wife who quietly gets an abortion in the middle of the film... I could keep listing these things all day, but none of them add up to much, unless as a sort of overall "feel," but -- even if that's the case -- then it's not that great a feel. Some of the movie feels like it was directed by Ang Lee, but other bits of it were just directed like shit: as only one example, Gabriel Byrne screams, birds fly from trees, and the camera backs out in cuts (the way they do in cartoons when they want a dramatic/cheesy moment). I'll stop talking about the movie now, cause it's really not worth it.