Review of Sweet Country (2018) by Mauro_Lanari — 03 Apr 2021

(Mauro Lanari).

Nihilistic despair orchestrated with all the directorial tricks adored by festivals (it won the Special Jury Prize at the 74th Venice International Film Festival). The narrative is paroxystically dilated (obvious: for echoing the boundless spaces), the diegesis is non-linear (obvious: for echoing the Aboriginal tradition), and the desert is everywhere, in the landscape, in the non-dialogues, in the interminable soporific silences. Some have called it a "cooled deep emotional participationNihilistic despair orchestrated with all the directorial tricks adored by festivals (it won the Special Jury Prize at the 74th Venice International Film Festival). The narrative is paroxystically dilated (obvious: for echoing the boundless spaces), the diegesis is non-linear (obvious: for echoing the Aboriginal tradition), and the desert is everywhere, in the landscape, in the non-dialogues, in the interminable soporific silences. Some have called it a "cooled deep emotional participation." I consider it the whole rhetorical arsenal flaunted, complete with a metacinematographic touch (justice in the open-air screening room).