the audience applauded

Don't listen to the negative reviews

The joyful confection is coated in a sparkly gloss, bright enough to gleam from the darkest, most cynical corners.

This is a gorgeous movie made by a gorgeous spirit.

I can see what they were going for here but I wouldn't say they achieved it but the film is worth a watch although it's very slow.

A family finds their dull life in a rural outback town rocked after their two teenage children disappear into the desert, sparking disturbing rumors of their past. As far as acting goes Nicole Kidman, Joseph Fiennes and Hugo Weaving are really good unfortunately the script and the plot aren't and here is how the director explains the character of Catherine and it's characters in regular: "People also sexualize stress, grief, loneliness, anger, longing, fear… we deal with crisis in many different ways… and sex is just one of them that we address in "Strangerland." This movie has one of the most awkward sex scenes i have ever seen between Kidman and Fiennes that comes out very weird also the first time Rae (Weaving) we basically see him having sex with this woman and later Kidman tries to seduce both him and and this kid Burtie and although one of the kids does get found the other one we as an audience we never learn what happens if you see movies such as Prisoners or Taken about child kidnapping you will see how perfectly they work in here both parents are insane that in times remember that their kids were missing. Sure the acting, the pacing and the locations are fine but that can't save a troubled script with a plot and characters that make zero sense. I'll give Strangerland a 6.1/10

Although unspoken it seems clear that Nicole Kidman's character is a sex and love addict. Her husband, Joseph Fiennes, is so repressed and full of rage (as sometimes happens to the partners of addicts). The teen daughter clearly follows in mom's footsteps adding to the father's sense of helplessness and rage. When the children disappear you see Kidman's character struggle with grief, denial, depression, and a complete mental break. From a mental health and addiction standpoint, this movie is great. But from a general movie escapism perspective it is slow moving and tedious. Yes, the movie is slow and painstaking. Just like the lives of addicts.

I almost never review movies and I often like a tidy ending, but what intrigued me about this movie is that after scouring reviews, there were none I could find that touched on what I felt stood about about this storyline. Even a director-interview touched only on how different characters dealt with grief in the movie.Sure there was a lot of grief going around, but much more interesting was the element of a teenage female sociopath. The character of Lily went beyond simple promiscuity. She upended her former teacher's life. Was not only adept at seducing men at an early age, but also chronicled her conquests in her diary in an explicit way that clearly points to sociopathy.Parallels are drawn between her mother's need for sexual attention and manipulation with her own. The fact that she didn't take care of her brother and may have willingly abandoned him suggests something even more sinister. Particularly the haunting refrain of being touched in the dark. She gives us no reason to believe that she looks out for her younger brother, given that she will disappear into the box with him standing by helplessly. It is part of her power over him that she can do this without fear of reprisal from him. Ask how she manages to pull all this over on him and her parents?I came to the conclusion that she had abused her younger brother in some way, exerting her control over him in the darkness 'when no one can see.' Getting him to 'touch her' and do her bidding. Why else would a healthy boy not be able to sleep and instead wander aimlessly in the night? Why does she go after him, and why does she as the older, responsible one let it go so far as to allow him to almost meet his demise?Her father sensed it intuitively, which was why he feared for her early on and either reacted violently to protect her, or felt she deserved to be punished. Only a pretty screwed up girl would act out so extremely at such a young age. The father also recognized narcissistic tendencies in his wife. Perhaps the mother had a male relative who abused her in the past and there could have been a continuation of that with Lily as a child that was not overtly suggested.The mother's downward spiral toward the end also reinforced that notion as her daughter's disappearance reignited buried psychological trauma that plays out in a psychotic break for her which is witnessed by the townspeople. I felt the movie overall was well-acted by all involved and well-directed. Kudos to the independent film!