Synopsis
In 1893, heavily pregnant Molly Johnson and her children struggle in isolation to survive the harsh Australian landscape after her husband left to go droving sheep in the high country. One day, she finds a shackled Aboriginal fugitive named Yakada wounded on her property. As an unlikely bond begins to form between them he reveals secrets about her true identity. Realizing Molly’s husband is actually missing, new town lawman Nate Clintoff starts being suspicious and sends his constable to investigate.
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Cast
- Leah PurcellMolly Johnson
- Rob CollinsYakada
- Sam ReidNate Clintoff
- Jessica De GouwLouisa
- Malachi Dower-RobertsDanny Johnson
- Benedict HardieLeslie
- Harry GreenwoodJohn MaPharlen
- Nicholas HopeJudge Eisenmangher
- Maggie DenceMrs. Shirley McGuiness
- Bruce SpenceFather McGuiness
Recommendations
- 90
Variety
An exceptionally compelling Outback Western. - 80
Screen Daily
The atmospheric revenge-thriller marks the feature filmmaking debut of actor/writer/director Leah Purcell, who plays the titular matriarch with steely resolve, rousingly adapts her own play and book, and delivers an impassioned film with an unflinching Indigenous and feminist perspective. - 80
Time Out
Rewriting the narrative through an anti-colonial, Black and feminist lens, Purcell bestowed a First Nations background and the moniker Molly Johnson on Lawson’s unnamed protagonist. Delving deeper into Molly’s troubles in the novel of the same name, this film marks her third spin at the material. It’s still riveting. - 70
Film Threat
Despite struggling with a thematic focus, the film presents a woman who is well worth getting to know. - 60
The Hollywood Reporter
An interrogation of Australia's history of racial violence that also takes on gender, identity and domestic abuse against a backdrop right out of an archetypal high country Western, the engrossing thriller is admirably ambitious but choppy, at times eluding the director's grasp. - 60
The Guardian
It’s Purcell’s powerhouse performance that lends the film its punchier, gritty edge. - 60
Little White Lies
Occasionally, the film does lack ambiguity, and there are a number of characters who, just through the casting, make-up and dress, come across as one-dimensional extremes of “goodies” and “baddies”. Yet Molly herself, and the seemingly endless string of physical and psychological trials she endures . . . makes for a satisfying emotional core. - 60
The Irish Times
Unfortunately, the longer the film goes on the more blankly didactic it becomes.
