Blueback

Name: Blueback
Genre: Drama, Family
Released: March 2, 2023
Duration: 102 min
Rating: 59
Cast: Albert Mwangi, Ariel Donoghue, Clarence Ryan, Dean Kennedy, Eddie Baroo

2023

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Mixed or average reviews based on 11 Critic Reviews

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Blueback

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Movie Details & Credits

Quiver Distribution | Release Date: March 2, 2023 | Not Rated

Starring: Albert Mwangi, Ariel Donoghue, Clarence Ryan, Dean Kennedy, Eddie Baroo, Eric Bana, Ilsa Fogg, Mia Wasikowska, Pedrea Jackson, Radha Mitchell

Summary: Follows Abby, a child who befriends a magnificent wild blue groper while diving. When Abby realizes that the fish is under threat, she takes inspiration from her activist Mum, Dora, and takes on poachers to save her friend.

Director: Robert Connolly

Genre(s): Drama, Family

Rating: Not Rated

Runtime: 102 min

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Critic Reviews

Gary Goldstein

Mar 7, 2023

The lovely and lyrical Blueback is a transporting mother-daughter (and fish) drama as well as a beautifully shot memory piece that will reward patient viewers able to settle in and enjoy the film’s accessibly low-key vibe. Read full review

Stephanie Zacharek

Mar 3, 2023

This is a movie about close family bonds and a more universal web that connects us, infinitely precious and worth preserving at all costs. Read full review

Elizabeth Weitzman

Oct 6, 2022

Connolly has turned Tim Winton’s 1997 novella into his own environmental cri de coeur . . . and while the specifics can get a bit clunky, his passion drives our interest all the way to the end. Read full review

Tim Grierson

Oct 6, 2022

This inherently melodramatic material has an undeniable emotional sincerity, although the story ends up being so gentle that it barely makes a ripple. Read full review

Dennis Harvey

Jan 21, 2023

The film adopts a somewhat more grownup, realistic, less parabolic tenor, though its ecology-minded narrative remains a bit sketchy for feature treatment — resulting in a pleasant, very handsome-looking movie rather short on dramatic impact. Read full review

The Film Stage Soham Gadre

Oct 6, 2022

It’s completely inoffensive but also lacking emotional heft, a result of sloppy story structure and flashback-heavy plotting that may have worked well in the source novel by Tim Winton (who also wrote the screenplay), but drains the tension in this adaptation. Read full review

Liam Lacey

Mar 9, 2023

While limited by a weak script, the film has beautiful locations, an over-qualified Australian cast, and a novel companion. Read full review

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chemicalE

Apr 17, 2023

Beautiful locations, amazingly acted, a sweet drama that had to pay the cost of its time muddling screenplay. Linear storytelling would have worked much better for this plot, and direction & cinematography should've done more to observe the beauty of the scenes; there was a lot, yet a lotBeautiful locations, amazingly acted, a sweet drama that had to pay the cost of its time muddling screenplay. Linear storytelling would have worked much better for this plot, and direction & cinematography should've done more to observe the beauty of the scenes; there was a lot, yet a lot left to be desired. Liked it overall, though, I mean how not to with Blueback and Abby's bond being the best part of the movie.Also, shoutout to the makeup department for their great work.… Expand

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Brent_Marchant

Apr 26, 2023

I feel somewhat guilty criticizing a picture that seems to have its heart in the right place but that just isn’t very good. Such is the case with director Robert Connolly’s latest, an earnest but schmaltzy, predictable, uneven offering that addresses noble sentiments but isn’t put togetherI feel somewhat guilty criticizing a picture that seems to have its heart in the right place but that just isn’t very good. Such is the case with director Robert Connolly’s latest, an earnest but schmaltzy, predictable, uneven offering that addresses noble sentiments but isn’t put together well. The film tells the story of Abby (Mia Wasikowska), a marine biologist who’s called away from her coral reef studies to care for her aging mother, Dora (Elizabeth Alexander), when she suffers a debilitating stroke that has left her unable to speak. Upon Abby’s return home to her Western Australia coastal community of Longboat Bay, she reflects back on how her mother got her interested in oceanography, particularly through her efforts to establish a local marine preserve. This part of the story is told through extensive flashbacks featuring Abby’s younger self (Ariel Donoghue, Ilsa Fogg) and a youthful Dora (Radha Mitchell) in their efforts to protect the bay from illegal fishing and potentially damaging waterfront development, especially after they meet and “befriend” a large wild blue grouper that Abby names Blueback. The film thus raises and addresses an array of issues related to environmentalism, ecological stewardship and cross-species relations, as well as following one’s passions and walking one’s walk. Unfortunately, the flashbacks dominate the narrative so much that the story thread that launches the picture feels more like an afterthought, one in which Wasikowska almost could have phoned in her part. And, as for the content that makes up the bulk of this release’s screen time, it comes across as laudable and well-meaning but a little too obvious and preachy, playing more like the script of an “After School Special” or material based on a selection from an all-girls’ Young Adult reading group. The somewhat insipid treatment of this story tends to undercut this release’s other strengths, such as its gorgeous underwater cinematography and the value of the messages it’s seeking to impart. Some might say the foregoing sounds cruelly and heavy-handedly cynical, but at least it’s honest, all good intentions aside.… Expand

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