The Rover
Director: David Michôd
Talent: Guy Pearce, Robert Pattinson, Scoot McNairy, David Field
Release Date: 15th August 2014
After an unspecified “collapse”, society lies in tatters. In an anachronistic Wild West, a man travels across the country hunting down the band who stole his car. This is Mad Max with no heroes, and no hope. It’s feral and punctuated by shocking, visceral violence and yet director David Michôd shows himself capable of real cinematic artistry.
It’s certainly no a perfect film: sometimes you sense that this is two A-list Hollywood actors showcasing rather than consolidating the actual roles. Pattinson especially may have bitten off a little more than he can chew but it’s an admirable effort all the same.
There’s something interesting about the best Australian films (The Proposition, Wake in Fright): here, violence is a signifier of doom and lost hope rather than a product of it. It serves to highlight the country’s harsh, ungovernable terrain and how this has informed the cultural identity. It is exaggerated reality as the ultimate anti-jingoism. In that way the director enters a tradition of filmmaking of which The Rover is a worthy, if not always phenomenal, addition.
Words: Eoghain Meakin
For more cinema coverage this month, check out our reviews of:
Hector and the Search for Happiness, The Dawn Of The Planet Of The Apes, Boyhood, The Grand Seduction, Supermensch: The Legend of Shep Gordon, Grand Central, Finding Vivian Maier & Joe
