The second Christos Tsiolkas novel to make the big screen (The Slap was adapted to TV). It chops large amounts out of the book and captures more the main message and the mood than the depth of psychological hell that the protagonist finds. Characters are cut or amalgamated into others but for me the ending came rather too abruptly. What is interesting is how the shadow side of life can daunt even the most confident and logical person and how one’s ancestral past remains to a degree present and dormant in one. Isaac’s descent on his visit back to Europe to scatter his father’s ashes in the mountains of Greece turns into a trip full of decadent images and sinister forces and the extent to which these are real or imagined is also in doubt. 
I would sum it up as fascinating on the one hand in its new look at Europe and an intelligent attempt to convey subconscious influences on our lives today but also ultimately somewhat unsatisfying as a coherent work. You need the book as well. Ewen Leslie holds the centre pretty well, Danae Skiadi is a potential star as the Greek cousin and Kodi Smit McPhee confirms his young talent.
★★★
passionfilm 