Lake Mungo (Joel Anderson, 2008)

I found this second Australian film on my list to be eerie, sad and brilliantly acted. Great script and editing too, because more than anything I admired the narrative, the very structure of the story within the documentary format, as well as the timing, duration and examination of the revelations. There's a really good split between the family-in-crisis, through retrospective interviews, and artful home recorded set-pieces.

One of the film's strengths is the poignant commentary on the estrangement and complexity of adolescence in young women (same in Picnic At Hanging Rock), whereas Snowtown does the same for traumatised young men (as opposed to Australia's The Loved Ones which I found a tad feckless). But what struck me about all three of these Australian films was how good they were at depicting youth vividly, and in an emotionally engaging way, without over-egging the pudding or becoming juvenile or trivial (the flip side of Neighbours and Home And Away). Take the Hollyoaks gene out of films about youth and you get more insightful and affecting films.

There is something compellingly primal and enigmatic about the desert too, that infiltrates the hidden spaces within a family home, particularly when caught on a camera. I also enjoyed a Peter Weir and Nigel Kneale vibe in this film's treatment of the supernormal and unworldly.