Review of Toomelah (2011) by Jonathan B — 21 Sep 2012

An unrelentingly bleak personal tale of life on the Toomelah Aborigine mission (home to director Ivan Sen's mother), with a cast of non-actors and raw documentary style aesthetics (Sen self shot with a single DV camera using on board sound).

There is a lot to admire in this film, Sen builds a compelling story (if a little too rough around the edges at times) and raises some difficult questions about life on the mission, but I can't help feeling that Sen's attempt at going for an almost dogme 95 level of naturalism hampers his attempts to emotionally engage his audience.