'Goldstone' - Movie Review

The movie opens on the tiny Outback town of Goldstone's one cop (Alex Russell) pulling over a drunk driver coming into town. Josh (the cop) throws the visitor in the lock-up to sleep it off - and discovers that the man he's pulled over (Jay Swan, played by Aaron Pedersen) is also a cop. If you're considering watching the movie, I think it would have helped me to know up front that sex work is legal in all of Australia. Our anti-hero Jay is following a lead on a young Chinese girl who may not have been doing that work voluntarily.

A couple of reviewers call this a "Western," and that seems reasonably accurate - although it's set in the modern day. The cinematography is often gorgeous, although I found the transitions between the lovely overhead shots (presumably a drone?) and ground level occasionally jarring. The story is a fairly traditional morality tale, with one cop struggling with his alcoholism and his indigenous heritage, and the other finding out just how much corruption he can take before he breaks. Lovely to look at, and possessed of semi-realistic gun battles (better than most). Not a bad story, but not a great either.