Lost Souls Find Love In a Hopeless Place – Dirt Music (Film Review)

Love stories between two lost souls, set adrift by their own doing can feel as if they are all cut from the same cloth of the sweeping romance. Dirt Music tries to be slightly different with its cast, location and even the characters themselves, but you can't help but feel that is like another story you've seen played out before. Except this one come with an amazing view.

Ex-nurse Georgie feels stuck in her unhappy marriage with local fishing baron Jim Buckridge. After spotting a poacher one night, Georgie becomes intrigued by this stranger. By chance they meet on the road and share a tentative bond that develops quickly into a passionate affair. But Luther is dealing with his own ghosts, his family, particularly his niece. When Luther is caught poaching, he's chased out of town, across the country, but Georgie is determined to find him and bring him home.

For a romance story, the actual romantic elements take a while to actually materialise. Georgie and Luther are two people either holding onto the past or feeling stuck in the present, not seeing anything kind of future for themselves. When they meet, it isn't love at first sight (maybe lust) there aren't even any sparks. Just a run of the mill ‘let's get a hotel room' scene that's more awkward than anything else. It's given the impression that Georgie does this sort of thing frequently and her husband knows about it, possibly even having affairs himself. There is no love or even care between them. Luther and Georgie, you'd expect to have a different relationship, but they too, take a very long time to appear that they have fallen for each other. Not the whirlwind romance you'd expect from this genre. The latter part of the film ramps up the action, taking us on a tour of Western Australia's coastline and the amazing beaches and islands to be found there. But again, it takes a bit of time to get to the hidden past, revelations shared scenes that really does make this run time feel extra-long.

Despite being based on the best seller of the same name from well-renowned author Tim Winton, the cinematic adaptation doesn't really compliment the novel. It feels as if you could read the book quicker than getting through the film. For those who enjoy romantic stories and those about love affairs where the couple fight against all odds to be with each other, this would be exactly what you're looking for, but if it's something exciting you want to watch, this will be an arduous watch.

Dirt Music is out on digital release from 19 July