Jindabyne
Sony Pictures Classics | Release Date: April 27, 2007 CRITIC SCORE DISTRIBUTION
65
METASCORE
Generally favorable reviews based on 30 Critic Reviews
Positive:
23
Mixed:
6
Negative:
1
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Critic Reviews

Critic scorePublicationBy date
88
TV Guide MagazineKen Fox
Lawrence delves deep into the moral dilemma at the heart of Carver's deceptively simple tale. By deliberately making the young woman in the river aboriginal, the film also opens up yet another dimension in the reaction to the men's inaction: Would they have acted any differently had the murder victim been white? Read full review
80
The Hollywood ReporterMegan Lehmann
The same organic characterizations that marked Lawrence's acclaimed 2001 film "Lantana" will attract fans of strong adult drama. Read full review
80
L.A. WeeklyElla Taylor
Jindabyne wears its class politics lightly, weaving them into a ghost story about the intimate connection between how we treat our living and our dead that will hover around your shoulders long after you leave the theater. Read full review
80
Los Angeles TimesKenneth Turan
Jindabyne's strength and power come from a number of factors: its origin, its current landscape and the unusual way its writer-director, Ray Lawrence, has chosen to work. Read full review
75
Entertainment WeeklyLisa Schwarzbaum
Jindabyne -- named for the lakeside town in which the troubles spill -- can't contain all that the filmmakers want to throw in. Best to keep glued to the taut performance by Laura Linney. Read full review
75
ReelViewsJames Berardinelli
The result is a mature and challenging motion picture, and something that will stick with viewers after the screen has gone dark. Read full review
75
Christian Science MonitorPeter Rainer
Writer-director Ray Lawrence, well regarded for his two previous films, "Bliss" and "Lantana," expands Carver's work into an indictment of colonialism and an examination of the chasm that supposedly exists between men and women over matters of the heart. Read full review
75
New York Daily NewsJack Mathews
Dublin-born Byrne and native New Yorker Linney...are both exceptional at depicting characters about to burst from inner turmoil, and Linney, in particular, is heartbreaking. Read full review
75
The A.V. ClubKeith Phipps
In the end, it's all a bit too self-consciously mysterious and Lawrence leans a bit too much on the atmosphere to do the work for him as he builds to a frustrating ending. But his vision of a place haunted by a restlessness it can't define proves unsettlingly infectious. Read full review
75
Chicago TribuneMichael Phillips
While not everything in Jindabyne works, especially in its final, redemptive third, the film and its faces stay with you. Read full review
75
Seattle Post-IntelligencerPaula Nechak
Jindabyne is uniquely Australian, dealing with Australian issues, and it boasts a wickedly wry conclusion that -- for everything that has come before -- is karmically just. Read full review
75
Philadelphia InquirerSteven Rea
Deliberately paced, with an eerie, country-ish score from the Australian singer/songwriter Paul Kelly, Jindabyne is definitely a mystery. But it's not about who killed the woman - audiences know that practically from the outset. Read full review
75
Portland OregonianMarc Mohan
At its core, the story is a Mars vs. Venus case study. Read full review
75
Miami HeraldConnie Ogle
Above all, this story is about the peril that lurks under life's surfaces. Read full review
70
VarietyRobert Koehler
Never obtains the full impact of its potentially powerful inner core. Read full review
70
Village VoiceJ. Hoberman
Hand it to Lawrence and Christian. Jindabyne is a soberly, if sluggishly, crafted movie in which the bitterness never stops. Read full review
70
SalonAndrew O'Hehir
I wish one-tenth of the films I saw were made with this much craft and integrity, this much intuitive understanding of where to put the camera, how much of the story to explain in words (not much) and how much to trust his outstanding cast to carry the film with their voices, faces and bodies. Read full review
70
The New York TimesA.O. Scott
The real flaw is that the movie's best features -- the aching clarity of its central performances -- threaten to be lost in a wilderness of metaphor and mystification. Read full review
70
Chicago ReaderJ.R. Jones
Too many extraneous elements have been added--the victim here is an aborigine, which prompts a racial backlash against the men and their families--but at the movie's center lies the knotty story of a marriage poisoned by amorality. Read full review
67
Austin ChronicleMarjorie Baumgarten
Never manages to get its relationships framed in as sharp focus as "Lantana" and goes down some unproductive side roads in its attempt to get to the point. Read full review
63
PremiereEthan Alter
Lawrence too often errs on the side of embellishing details that didn't need to be expanded upon. Read full review
63
The Globe and Mail (Toronto)Rick Groen
Adapting a great short story, like Carver's "So Much Water So Close to Home," into a movie poses a dilemma: How to flesh it out to feature length without destroying what made it great in the first place? Read full review
63
Boston GlobeTy Burr
Where it works best is in the domestic dance of death between a husband and a wife. Linney flutters with increasingly panicky intelligence throughout the film, while Byrne sinks further into his own bulk. Read full review
60
New York Magazine (Vulture)David Edelstein
Scene by scene, Jindabyne has dramatic force, but it's an awfully long slog. Carver's smartest tactic was never outstaying his welcome. Read full review
60
EmpireSam Toy
A great idea is weighed down by an over-egged screenplay, but the setting and cast bring out its best. Read full review
50
Wall Street JournalJoe Morgenstern
Jindabyne started with a bad idea and the finished film doesn't do well by it. Read full review
50
USA TodayClaudia Puig
Has some strong acting. But largely because of its glacial pacing, the story ends up feeling too detached to move us as it should. Read full review
50
San Francisco ChronicleMick LaSalle
Jindabyne suffers from too many extraneous elements and from a story that doesn't land with enough force or purpose. Read full review
50
Washington PostDesson Thomson
Sometimes, the sincerest form of tribute is inferiority. Watching the Australian film Jindabyne, one soon embraces the conclusion: Robert Altman did this work better. And with fewer brush strokes. Read full review
25
New York PostKyle Smith
A depressing and tedious movie. Read full review
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