Good concept, poorly executed.

Easily the biggest piece of Right wing non sense propaganda I ever saw.

It's a good bad... and worth a popcorn matinée. While it's easy to lament what could have been...

This is a coming of age storyline that you've seen in one form or another for decades. It takes a truly unique voice to make yet another one worth watching.

Disappointed with this. Felt like there could have been a lot more done with these characters. So many aspects could have been expanded to replace the dull parts of the film.

The book is well worth reading, but watch the film first. That way, you won't be too disappointed at what's been cut in the film version. I was surprised to see this film rated M in Australia as some sections of the book are 'R' for sure, and would make it hard to make the novel a set text for schools. The film leaves out the excellent opening chapter of the book (but understandably given the context) though it does capture Winton's brilliant descriptions of the sea and surfing: no Australian writer has done it better. The big problem for the film (which is also fairly true of the novel) is that there is no major problem or conflict shown as being confronted and/or resolved. Even in a 'coming of age' film, you would expect strong conflict with parents (they hardly say a word here), problems with girls (his gf just approaches him and later drops him: he shows almost no reaction), or issues arising from forming an intimate relationship with his mentor's woman (the mentor either doesn't know about it or seems cool with it!) The 'breath play' issue is important but because more explicit depiction would hurt the film's rating, it's been kept largely out of sight. If the big issue is meant to be the narrator confronting his own fears, it needed much more screen time, dialogue and acting. Maybe it was a question of budgets, but I came away just a little disappointed that I had not been taken on the emotional wave (get it?) I had been expecting. At the same time, it is great to see Australia on the big screen, so I'm glad I saw it, and I hope many others will too.

I looked forard to this movie and expected to enjoy it asthe latest high quality Aussie drama. I know the area it was filmed in intimately. I really think that if I had not recognised the backdrops I would have enjoyed the movie less and would have given it a score of 1. The surfing sequences are really well filmed - made me sit and think about how the cameraman must have captured the scene. They created the feelings of doom, bravery and fear. That said, there was little else good here. Not much reflected believable real life, it suffered from the Australian affliction of "one scene and one prolonged look into the mid-distance says more than a 1000 words". It's all been done before. Even the leading lady (supposedly the smouldering star's wife?) fell into this trap - why did she suddenly want to home shool this teenager. I worried about the fact that the kid was proably below the age of consent. The story meandered, there were unecessary scenes (the truck crash with the shot cow - what did it relate to?). But the gratuitous plastic bag scenes, as others have mentioned - why, why, why include these. I do see that others would see that it was used to show the wife's loss of enjoyment of living normally. It added a nasty undertone which was superfluous. Where were the women in the movie- they were just food or sex providers. I admit that I do not enjoy Tim Winton's output but even he must have slepwalked through the screenplay.

Valiant first directing attempt by Baker. This is worth watching for the scenery of the South coast of Western Australia alone. The surf sequences are also very well put together, and really draw the viewer into the waves and the ocean. That's about where my praise ends though. Frankly, the film never quite achieves the heights that some reviews claim. Unlike the presentation of the scenery and surfing, the characters are not well drawn out, and struggle to develop any telling depth. The boy coming of age, the crazy mate, the high school girlfriend, the stereotyped parents, the mentor. All of them are frequently used templates by the author (Winton), this feels like the same tale he's told before, just with different characters and setting.