Goldstone

Though I haven't spend a great deal of time in what would be termed the Australian outback, I know enough to be confident that it's as harsh as it is sparse and scarily beautiful.

And in the film Goldstone it's the setting for a story of lost souls and the corruption that sustains them at the expense of all others.

The story centres around indigenous detective Jay (Aaron Pedersen) who arrives, drunk and behind the wheel no less, in what could hardly be called a town as there are few free standing buildings and many demountables, in search of a missing Chinese girl.

He's pulled over by the local cop Josh (Alex Russell), a bit too clean cut despite some occasional stubble to be an outback cop just quietly, and thrown in jail. Quickly everyone in 'town' is suspicious of Jay's motives and we find out they have good reason to be as everyone, Josh included, has their hands dirty with what's been going on.

Jay was sent there because of a phone call coming from a woman in the aboriginal community about a sighting of the girl. Legendary actor David Gulpilil has a pivotal role as the community elder Jimmy who has some insight into Jay's past.

Very early we learn that Josh is open to being kept quiet, either by the Mayor (Jacki Weaver) providing 'wink wink' apple pies or more directly with the local mines boss Johnny (David Wenham) offering to 'keep an eye' on a large wad of $50 notes for him.

What are they protecting? As Jay continues his search for the young Chinese girl, a plane carrying five young Chinese women arrives and a few leave. It's made clear the girls are there to 'work'.

In some ways Goldstone is a bit hard to get into, possibly because of how spread out the community is and how the dialogue is sparingly used at times, but in others it's a very interesting story.

It's not a complex story, far from it, and that's a major flaw. It needn't be so one-dimensional.

Even in the outback the almighty dollar rules. The Mayor admits it, as does Johnny, while it eventually gets the better of others.

Pedersen's character is quite enigmatic at times, we're not too sure about who he is (apart from being a detective) as we aren't given a lot of insight into him early on. Some things do unfold in time.

Russell came across a little bit like a Home And Away cop at times and wasn't given many opportunities to shine as much as he could have. You can almost see him pleading with the audience 'there's more to this character that what you can see'.

That is probably a casualty of the setting and the disconnectedness of the township. Another flaw.

Weaver's Mayor is a bit of a cartoon at times but she's there to serve a purpose, to drive the story along and serve a stern warning to Jay to stay out of her town's business, and it's a bit of a shame an actor of her calibre was wasted.

Despite its flaws I did like the movie but I reckon there's a ripping six or eight part TV series in this, akin to a True Detective type show, and it's a big opportunity missed. 

Then we'd have a bit of time to get a bit deeper into the town and the characters and the drama could unfold a bit more naturally.

A 7 out of 10, but it could have been so much more.