The Dry

This quietly thrilling Australian drama stars Eric Bana as a famous lawman returning to his hometown to reopen terrible crimes old and new.

"Everyone looked away; everyone still looks away. We're very good at it."

I like it when movies fake you out by seeming like something very familiar and then making every decision in a different direction than you expect. "The Dry" is about a federal agent who goes home to investigate the death of a friend, and going in I felt like I could tell you everything that's going to happen before it does.

He'll get emotionally invested in the case and make irrational decisions; he'll get in a scrap with old antagonists and teach them a lesson or three; he'll look up an old lady love, reconnect and wonder about staying; and he'll learn something about himself and the place he grew up, banishing the ghosts that led him to flee.

All of that happens, at least in some way, though not the way we think.

It's a fairly languid story, at least at first, and gradually picks up steam and intensity. Director Robert Connolly, who co-wrote the screenplay with Harry Cripps based on the best-selling novel by Jane Harper, is more concerned with staking out characters' interiors than the usual crime procedural perambulations of the plot.

Eric Bana plays Aaron Falk, who works for the Australian equivalent of the FBI, making headlines for cracking big cases. He left his home region of Kiewarra, a nowhere expanse of farms, 20 years earlier as a teen under suspicious circumstances. It's now beset by a terrible drought lasting nearly a year, turning all the crops to dust and drying out the people's hearts as well.

His childhood friend, Luke (played by Martin Dingle-Wall and Sam Corlett as a kid), has just killed his wife and young son before turning the shotgun on himself, leaving only his baby son alive.

At least, that's the official story. Luke's parents (Bruce Spence and Julia Blake) insist their son was a good man and would never do such a thing, but of course what else would they think? The father browbeats Aaron into opening his own investigation, using the cudgel of Aaron's own disgrace as leverage.

We see flashbacks to Aaron and Luke as teens (Joe Klocek plays young Aaron) and their friendship-slash-romantic dalliances with two girls, Ellie (BeBe Bettencourt) and Gretchen (Claude Scott-Mitchell). Luke and Gretchen were kind of an item, and Aaron and Ellie were beginning to be, since in the gravitational pull of a mixed foursome, when two hook up the others must do the same or become a pair of third wheels.

There were elements of Luke's young behavior that rub at the edges of Aaron's perception, suggesting he could have been capable of this violence. He was egotistical and a bully, and in one scene playfully dunked Ellie underwater, which seems merely jerk-ish until it's revealed she drowned in that same river. Luke and Aaron concocted an alibi about shooting rabbits, but in a small town gossip is more important than facts, and Aaron's dad made him move away before things got ugly.

So really, Aaron's journey is about solving not one murder but two, both inextricably connected in his soul.

Aaron goes through the motions of an unofficial investigation, just to pay the debt, not expecting to find anything. He works with the lone local police officer, Greg (Keir O'Donnell), a meek fellow who's dedicated but way out of his depth and is glad to have a famous lawmen leading the way. Questions lead to more questions, but not enough answers for Aaron to let it go.

Other characters flit in and out of the story, suggesting possibilities with regard to crimes both old and new. Adult Gretchen (Genevieve O'Reilly) is now a single mother, looking fine and with her dance card open. Things fell apart between her and Luke after Ellie died, so maybe she and Aaron can have a second chance with each other.

Grant (Matt Nable) is the local troublemaker (we'd call him a redneck) and also Ellie's brother who still believes Aaron is somehow responsible for her death. He keeps pushing Aaron for a confrontation that in most movies would be inevitable, but Aaron sees what he's doing and won't give in to the expected, though he's tempted.

Bana gives a subtle performance as an even-keeled guy, looking upon Grant more with pity than fury. Like any man he has his breaking point, but prides himself on checking his emotions.

Scott (John Polson) is the principal at the town school where Luke's wife worked, and acts as the local peacemaker. Jamie (James Frecheville) is a squirrelly farmer who supposedly saw Luke shortly before the violence, and uses the same alibi about shooting rabbits that Aaron did so long ago. Daniel Frederikson plays the town doctor, stitching people up after bar fights and such.

I also really liked Miranda Tapsell as Greg's wife, who only gets a couple of scenes but makes the most of them as an Aboriginal woman with a sharp tongue who sees things as they are, and says so. In other circumstances, she'd probably turn out as a better investigator than either her husband or Aaron.

"The Dry" is one of those quietly thrilling movies that creeps up on you. It doesn't come out swinging but patiently softens you up for the haymakers that'll come later. The hero doesn't do all the stupid or obvious things, and the locals keep surprising us with more complexity and shadings than we expect.

This could've been a paint-by-numbers movie, and instead they chose to ignore all the laid-down-lines and create a portrait that's entirely different, and better.