Wish You Were Here (I) (2012)
7/10
Effective telemovie mystery centres on middle-class marital woes, following a Cambodian holiday gone wrong.
3 July 2013
Don't be put off by the opening of this movie, which shows four privileged thirty-somethings indulging themselves on a SE Asian holiday; followed by more self-conscious family life in pretty Sydney surroundings. Then it appears not all is well. One of the four, a businessman, has gone missing, and other things which happened on the holiday begin to be revealed. Excellent performances from Teresa Palmer and Joel Edgerton, and a skillful withholding of information, keep this mystery/emotional drama ticking over. The prettiness of the photography is a nice irony, contrasting with the increasingly murky revelations. There's a slight over-indulgence in arty camera angles when you'd like to get closer to the characters and their feelings; the performances by the missing man's parents are unconvincing, and the the lead female performance is often curiously detached. Nevertheless this is one of those stories which slowly grows stronger; its twists are credible and powerful. Good work!
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