The Nightingale movie review - Aussieboyreviews
IS THE NIGHTINGALE A BRUTAL SEXUAL ASSAULT/VENGEANCE THRILLER?
Horrifyingly brutal, exceptionally powerful and an extremely difficult watch, The Nightingale is an excellent rape-and-revenge thriller. Jennifer Kent’s film is utterly bleak but is also very well-crafted.
Storyline
In the 1825, a young Irish convict woman ventures with an Aboriginal tracker, hunting down a British officer through the Tasmanian wilderness to seek vengeance for a horrific act of violence he committed against her family.
Movie Images
Movie details
Director: Jennifer Kent
Cast: Aisling Franciosi, Baykali Ganambarr, Sam Claflin, Damon Herriman, Harry Greenwood, Ewen Leslie
Writer: Jennifer Kent
Release Date (Australia): 13 October 2018
Runtime: 136 minutes/2h 16m
Genre: Thriller, Adventure, Drama
Country: Australia
Language: English, Irish, Aboriginal
CONTENT GUIDE (warning: May contain spoilers)
The film contains thematic material including racism, sexual assault and revenge, as well as disturbing scenes that feature graphic depictions of rape and violence.
The film contains multiple lengthy scenes depicting women being raped by men, as well as scenes that feature people being shot, stabbed, impaled with spears and bludgeoned with a shotgun, accompanied by large amounts of blood detail.
The film contains aggressive use of the words “c**t”, “f**k”, “whore” and “s**t”.
None.
The film includes naturalised nudity in the form of several depictions of a woman’s breast.
There are multiple lengthy scenes of strong sexualised violence throughout the film. The film also includes a brief sex scene and verbal sex references.
mpaa rating
R (for strong violent and disturbing content including rape, language throughout, and brief sexuality)
Aussie boy's thoughts
The Nightingale’s traumatically convincing portrayal of horrifying violence distributes a tough cinematic experience through a brutal revenge story that’s both uncomfortable and highly powerful. This is the top movie of 2018 that hasn’t received anywhere near enough recognition or attention. It’s an extremely disturbing and thematic adult revenge thriller set in 1800s Tasmania with the spotlight on a young Irish convict woman seeking a brutal vengeance towards a British officer who committed appalling acts of violence towards her family.
Writer/director Jennifer Kent, who also wrote and directed the clever 2014 horror film The Babadook, has simply by this amazing film proved she is worthy of masterpiece material for the big cinema experiences. Her story tackles subject matter consisting of rape, revenge and extreme violence, as well as racial violence in Australia. The camera techniques she uses may also remind audiences of other camerawork styles from directors like Robert Eggers, who use old-fashioned aspect ratios, the camera captures different details and the lighting is always changing.
Eventually, it all comes down to focus on the elements in movies that matter most. The Nightingale is long and takes some extended amounts of time to end, but there isn’t a single moment that isn’t made completely riveting because of the extremely real, compelling and convincing characters. Aisling Franciosi and Baykali Ganambarr make all the events onscreen feel so lifelike that they deserve awards for their roles. The scenes of rape, violence and screaming feel so real and are incredibly tough to watch. This drama-thriller is an extremely unpleasant but a must-watch experience for the cinemas.
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