Water Diviner, The (Russell Crowe, 2014) wr. Andrew Anastasios, Andrew Knight, prod. Andrew Mason, Troy Lum, Keith Rodger, Hopscotch Features, dp Andrew Lesnie, design Chris Kennedy, casting Nikki Barrett, costume Tess Schofield; Olga Kurylenko, Russell Crowe, Jai Courtney, Isabel Lucas, Damon Herriman, Jacqueline McKenzie, Ryan Corr, Dan Wyllie, Robert Mammone, Michael Dorman, Steve Bastoni; man travels to Turkey after the Battle of Gallipoli to try and locate his three missing sons
Leigh Paatsch:
If it was footwear, this poignant, yet uplifting ANZAC drama would be the best pair of work boots a bloke could ever own: comfortable enough to slip into with ease, but durable enough to never fall apart no matter how adverse the terrain. Leigh Paatsch, news.com.au, 2 December 2014.
Luke Buckmaster:
Oscar-winner Andrew Lesnie’s cinematography is exquisitely clean, as if the entire movie is one big touched-up photo. ... When Crowe flicks the switch to action hero mode the horse riding and fisticuffs feel like they belong in a slightly different movie, but he pulls it off. The 50-year-old Australian import/export may have been born in New Zealand, but that scenery-chewing lug of an actor – so assured, with a performance understated in ways the film’s key changes and tonal shifts are not – is the Man from Snowy River reincarnate, a moral warrior deprived of family and loaded up with true-blue grit. ... Audiences are likely to connect with it, as they are the rest of the film: a handsome crowdpleaser with a big heart. Luke Buckmaster, The Guardian.
Garry Gillard | New: 7 December, 2014 | Now: 17 November, 2022