Tracks **** (2013, Mia Wasikowska, Adam Driver, Lily Pearl) – Movie Review

Mia Wasikowska stars as the real-life Robyn Davidson, a determined, loner young American woman who goes on a 1,700-mile trek across the deserts of West Australia with her four camels and faithful dog during nine months of 1976-77.

John Curran’s film is a glorious-looking movie, with amazing Aussie scenery beautifully captured by cinematographer Mandy Walker, and Wasikowska makes a sterling job of portraying the sometimes quite chillingly stop-at-nothing heroine. Happily there’s no Hollywood gloss on the story, but quite a bit of its polish on the actual film.

Adam Driver does well in a loyal support role as National Geographic magazine photographer Rick Smolan who was chosen to photograph her sponsored journey for the magazine. Davidson at first finds Rick annoyingly way too talkative and insists he only meets up with her at points during her trip. But she slowly warms to his support, eventually relying on it, and they become kind of friends.

However, it’s not your usual movie love story by any means. The Davidson portrayed here is a somewhat frustrating character, slightly selfish and wilful, so you have to love her warts and all.

There have been many attempts over the years to bring the real-life Robyn Davidson’s book to the big screen with both Julia Roberts and Nicole Kidman attached to the lead role at various times. Development on the movie adaptation began before Wasikowska was even born.

Marion Nelson makes a pretty good job of the screenplay, adapting and including what’s most important in Robyn Davidson’s book, with decent dialogue. Curran’s film isn’t urgent or tense, sometimes taking the long, slow, scenic route to its destination. But it’s still really quite a fascinating journey, with a nice, quirky, offbeat flavour.

Curran directed We Don’t Live Here Anymore in 2004, with Mark Ruffalo, Laura Dern, Peter Krause and Naomi Watts.

And in 2014, we had a similar film to compare it with – director Jean-Marc Vallée’s chronicle of an American woman’s 1,100-mile solo hike to recover from recent catastrophes, with Reese Witherspoon as Cheryl Strayed.

http://derekwinnert.com/wild-2014-reese-witherspoon-laura-dern-gaby-hoffmann-movie-review

Link to Derek Winnert’s home page for more reviews: http://derekwinnert.com/

(C) Derek Winnert 2014 Movie Review