HUMAN TRACES
Director: Nic Gorman
Cast: Sophie Henderson, Mark Mitchinson, Vinnie Bennett, Peter Daube, Milo Cawthorne, Sara Wiseman
Rating: (M)
★★★ (out of five)
They’re otherwise coping with the usual marital problems you’d expect in a movie of this sort, compounded by their near-total isolation and a not insignificant 30-year age gap, so when mysterious Doc worker Pete (Vinnie Bennett) arrives on the island, it doesn’t take long for things between them to become seriously unravelled.
Shot on Banks Peninsula and in the Catlins, which stand in for the fictional setting of Perseverance Island, the film makes full use of the beautifully harsh and weather-beaten landscape, reflecting the stormy and brooding psychological state of its protagonists.
It also cleverly employs a three-part structure, replaying the events from each character’s point-of-view, and revealing new information that alters our perspective on what we’ve already seen. It’s a risky move, given the brief running time, but it works well.
Gorman proudly wears his art-house, auteurist influences throughout, crafting something that feels both unique and derivative, is compelling yet somewhat lacking in genuine thrills, and features strong performances and characterisations marred by small handfuls of clunky dialogue.
Human Traces is far from perfect, but it displays real talent, and I suspect could well be a harbinger of much better things to come.
- Jeremy Quinn
