A lot of fun.

Instead, you get a movie that's enjoyable enough, but leaves you feeling like it could have been much, much more.

When a movie has you begging for it to end not even half way through it's pure crap. We've all seen this movie and this characters millions of times, nothing new in it. Don't waste your time.

Excellent and certainly provocative... If nothing else, the film is a real conversation starter.

Ned Kendall (Ben Mendelsohn) has come back to the family home with young wannabe actress Toni (Maeve Dermody) after 20 years of absence. He must come to terms with his dying father Bruce (Bryan Brown), and resolve the death of his twin sister Kate (Sophie Lowe). There he finds his sister Sally (Rachel Griffiths) dutifully taking care of their mean spirited father in their old crumbling farm that is soon to be lost to the bank. Much of this movie goes into flashback mode. It's a much more compelling story in the past due mostly to Sophie Lowe's enigmatic performance. The present story is much more depressed, and it struggles under the weight of buried anger. There is a mystery of the family's past. There are deaths not talked about. The present day needs some more energy.

A writer returns to his family home at the behest of his sister, to bid farewell to his dying father. Coming back to this remote and isolated place, he starts getting flashbacks of his childhood; and more specifically, memories of his beautiful twin sister. Soon, the memories awaken long-buried secrets from the family's past.Australian cinema isn't something I've explored very much, but the country has produced a lot of great actors, some of which are on show in this very emotional, intensely-charged drama. Just by reading the synopsis above, you can see that this isn't a light, fluffy movie; it's far from it. We're talking about repressed emotions, shouting matches, slow-burning tension, the works. All that could be done to heighten the drama, director Rachel Ward did it.Ward is an actor herself, which probably goes some way to explaining why she gets such good performances out of her cast. In particular, Mendelsohn (as Ned) is brilliant – there are many shades of grey to the character, and he expresses it all very well. You've also got Rachel Griffiths in there (of Six Feet Under fame) and she's predictably awesome.The big problem with this film, though, is that it just drags too much sometimes. Yes, it's all being done to highlight the monotony and isolation of the place (and their emotions), but it gets a bit much sometimes. The central story is very intense, and I wanted them to get through it. Suddenly, everything slows down and I'm left wanting.However, there's enough here to satisfy an audience member and, if you're able to put up with the slow pace, you'll appreciate the payoff. It's a well-acted, solidly-directed movie. Worth a look, I think.

Rachel Ward directs her husband, Bryan Brown, as a cantankerous man who is dying without any regrets. Bruce's(Brown) son, Ned and his finance, Toni, visit to say goodbye to him. His sister Sally also lives there. He keeps a journal detailing an incestuous relationship with a twin sister, Kate, who has died mysteriously. A flashback shows his sister seducing him when they were both drunk and the sexual encounter filling him with guilt. Kate has no regrets and demands a repeat performance which Ned turns down. She turns their other brother, Cliff against him by lying, and saying that Ned attacked her. Bruce forces Ned to take Kate to a Christmas dance. He leaves her, and later finds her dead as the result of a car accident. That same night, he finds his brother Cliff hanging in a barn; this is not the Waltons; goodnight John Boy. More family secrets are revealed and even with some fine acting from everyone involved, Beautiful Kate is a depressing downer.

Yet another small budget "arty" downbeat Australian film which would not have been made without government money, though the story is an adaptation of a novel by a American author, Newton Thornbury, relocated from suburban Chicago to the Flinders Ranges. Directed by Rachel Ward, it stars the Flinders Ranges, her husband Bryan Brown as the dying father and Ben Mendlesohn as Ned, the estranged son who, at the urging of his younger sister Sally who is looking after the old boy (Rachel Griffiths in good form), has come back to the family's drought-stricken farm to say goodbye. Ned has in tow Toni, a sexy but trashy girlfriend half his age, but she does not stick around for long. The atmosphere is pretty tense, as the reunion brings back memories of other family members long dead, including the eponymous sister beautiful Kate and brother Cliff.Despite the depressing subject matter I found the film absorbing. There were some obvious deficiencies – Sophie Lowes's inaudible dialogue as Kate, the under – development of the Cliff character and the total absence of the mother, but these were offset by really strong performances by Bryan Brown (though he did not quite look as if he was on the point of death) and Ben Mendelsohn (who has matured into one of our better actors). I also rather enjoyed Maeve Dermody's turn as the trashcan. The flashback scenes are rather dream-like and not always very clear, but of course so is human memory. We see things very much through Ned's eyes – this is a subjective account of a painful past. The editing is good though, and the cinematography superb – one thing Aussie film-makers usually get right.Well, it's a miserable story but at the end the surviving members of the family are a little closer. Ned is a writer but in the end this story proves too personal to be used.