"Beautiful Kate" was one of Australia’s most successful films of late despite a dark and confronting subject matter. In the performance of his career, Ben Mendelsohn stars as a 40 year old writer, Ned Kendall, who is asked to return to the family home in outback Australia by his sister Sally [Rachel Griffiths], to say goodbye to his father [Bryan Brown], who is dying. While at home, Ned starts having memories of his beautiful twin sister and himself when they were children. These memories awaken long-buried secrets from the family's past.
Based on the novel by Newton Thornburg, Rachel Ward’s feature directorial debut is a staggering achievement, a film of extraordinary depth and clarity, a rich multi-textured layer of profoundly delineated characters brought to cinematic life against the harsh, brown hues of a rugged and uncompromising terrain. Ward manages to convey the film’s themes of regret and redemption so beautifully in her casting.
Mendelsohn is sublime, delivering a powerful and sensitive performance, his best in a decade, but it’s Bryan Brown who is a revelation here, raw and magnificent as the once tough and distant father desperately trying to connect with a son and a past he never understood. He is remarkable and it is one of those performances, emotionally rich and real, that remains long in the mind of the viewer for hours afterwards. Newcomer Sophie Lowe is a sensational find as the sexually confused titular character.
The rich cinematography of Andrew Commis visually enhance Ward’s narrative fluidity. With strong reviews, one hopes that U.S distribution will beckon and the right team can propel it to awards glory. Beautiful Kate is a hauntingly exquisite work of beauty and emotive resonance, a triumph for its talented director.
