Western Australian author Tim Winton is one of the most frequently adapted Aussie writers of all time. As if to prove the point, Blueback, the latest big screen version of his work, is now available to rent or buy.
Set on WA’s rugged southern coast and directed by Robert Connolly (The Dry and previous Winton adaptation The Turning), Blueback follows marine biologist Abby (Mia Wasikowska) who returns to her coastal hometown to help defend its delicate reef ecosystem from developers after her environmentalist mother (Liza Alexander) suffers a stroke.
From there we flash back to see how young Abby (Ilsa Fogg and Ariel Donoghue at various ages) is taught to love the ocean by her hum (Radha Mitchell in these sequences) and forms a bond with the titular “Blueback”, an ancient groper who lives on the reef.
Combining Winton’s familiar environmental message with some genuinely spectacular underwater footage filmed on Ningaloo Reef, Blueback is a superb family film. Our own Travis Johnson, a gifted film critic who is certainly not anonymously banging out this news piece for beer money, called it “…if not the finest adaptation of the sun-bleached author’s work, certainly in the upper echelon” and that guy seems to know what he’s talking about.
A brilliant ensemble is on hand to help tell the tale, including Eric Bana, recently seen in Connolly’s hugely successful outback noir The Dry, as local abalone fisherman Macka, Mystery Road: Origin’s Clarence Ryan as potential love interest Briggs, and nigh-ubiquitous Aussie character actor Eddie Baroo as local larrikin Merv. But the real stars are the ocean and Blueback himself, rendered not in CGI but as a stunningly impressive animatronic puppet.
While a certain other ocean-themed movie is gobbling up the box office right now, Blueback has its own specific charms, bringing Tim Winton’s rich prose to stunning life while teaching a lesson in conservation that is becoming more pressing by the day.
