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Tuesday, 17 June 2008 |
 Starring William McInnes, Monic Hendrickx; Directed by Peter Duncan
On a remote Queensland farm, John (William McInnes) is alone and hurting. Why is not immediately clear, although it is clear we’ll soon find out. Peter Duncan is the sort of director who likes to tease people by providing pieces of information and slowly filling the gaps. It probably accounts for the unfinished jigsaw on John’s table: motifs loom large in his world.
Unfinished Sky is an adaptation of Monic Hendrickx’s The Polish Bride. She reprises her role here to a degree, as Tahmeena, an Afghan refugee who, battered, bruised and bleeding, staggers up John’s driveway. How and why are large pieces of the puzzle, though Duncan’s immediate concern is with the urgent relationship that forms between John and his unwanted houseguest.
Unfinished Sky is a solid film, yet for all the promise of its hyper-stylised opening, Duncan’s tendency to slide over the big issues he’s raised – the plight of refugees or John’s psychological torment – neutralises much of the film’s impact. As it devolves into a conventional thriller, the courage that marked his earlier work (Passion or Children of the Revolution) is missing. That said, while Unfinished Sky doesn’t exactly light up the heavens, it’s far from a fizzer.
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