The first international review of Unfinished Sky published

2007 Toronto Film Festival: Part Four

By Paul Fischer of 'Dark Horizons'

  Unfinished Sky

Unfinished Sky from Australian director Peter Duncan is one of those unexpected films one comes across that is simply flawless, that rare breed of accomplished filmmaking that is pure narrative without any pretensions and characters that are beautifully and skilfully delineated. William McInnes plays an Outback farmer with a seemingly troubled past, who thrives and survives on isolation, with his dog, in rural Queensland, who takes in an Afghani woman (Monic Hendrickx) who is bleeding and bruised, but from what we don't quite know as yet. Initially a relationship of antagonism and mistrust, complicated by cultural differences and a lack of clear communication, the relationship develops while the couple's individual past issues catch up to them.

Duncan hasn't made many films, but looking at his work, from the heavily satiric Children of the Revolution, to the slight but affable Little Bit of Soul, none of his previous work would prepare one for this rich and quite staggering masterwork. A film of remarkable accomplishment, the film is essentially a two-hander, with much of the movie resting on the hands of its principals. McInnes is a huger talent in his native Australia, with a command of the screen that is both sardonically funny and dramatically powerful. No Duncan script would be complete without the writer/director's wry view of contemporary humanity, and in this landscape of bitter isolation, he finds much humour within the folds of two contemporary characters and their profound, cultural differences.

Newcomer Monic Hendrickx is actually Dutch and plays the ferociously independent but troubled Afghan refugee with great emotional depth and power. Her final scene is heartbreaking. Beautifully shot on location, cinematographer Robert Humphreys so perfectly captures the harshness of rural Australia with his browns and greys in a visually striking collage of scenes. International audiences will find much in Unfinished Sky to resonate outside of its parochially Australian setting, and one can hope that this stunning film, which is both funny and poignant, will find a home in the U.S and beyond. It truly is a masterpiece.

Cited at: http://www.darkhorizons.com/news07/toronto4.php