Review of The Rover (2014) by Joe S — 23 Jun 2014

With an intensely excellent thought-provoking story of pregnant silences and barren landscape planted with violence and dead-end roads with never-before-considered choices for rich and complex characters brilliantly brought to a struggled life with informed insightful spot-on acting; directed with a focus on unearthing humanity and coloured outside of the lines with an edgy, taut, stripped and stark soundtrack whose simplicity belies its depth and complexity almost as much as the characters' did, the film The Rover held me unpredictably happily hostage at the edge of my seat finally, finally with a movie that kept me watching beyond calculating and musing and questioning and knowing, and just loving it.

Not for children, and not for people who need big and flashy effects, and passive mindless entertainment by shiny happy pretty people doing pretty or exciting things, The Rover is unpredictable, aching, and brilliant.