LOOKING FOR GRACE

Australia, 2015, 100 minutes, Colour.
Richard Roxburgh, Radha Mitchell, Odessa Young, Terry Norris, Julia Blake, Kenya Pearson, Myles Pollard, Tasma Walton, Harry Richardson, Peter Rowsthorn.
Directed by Sue Brooks.

Writer and director, Sue Books, has made only a few films, Road to Nhill and Japanese Story, each set in outback regions of Australia. She has returned to the outback for Looking for Grace, shot on location in Western Australia, desert and wheat country.

There is some obvious ambiguity in the title, Grace as a person who is being sought and grace as something good in people, a powerful redemption.

The key aspect of the film is the fact that it tells the one story but from five different perspectives, something of a jigsaw puzzle, significant pieces, sometimes random-seeming pieces, but coming together in the search for Grace and the aftermath.

The first story told is that of Grace herself. Grace is played by the talented young actress, Odessa Young, who also appears to great advantage in the title role of the adaptation of Henrik Ibsen’s The Wild Duck, The Daughter. She is a teenager, some difficulties with her parents, moderate really, but she decides to go off with her school friend from Perth to travel by bus to Ceduna for a concert. All she leaves in the kitchen is a note saying, Sorry, Mum. We see Grace and her friend, Sappho, on the bus, meeting a handsome young traveller, and some interaction with him, that leads to Grace being stranded.

Surprisingly, the second story is that of Bruce, a truck driver with a little boy whom he takes on his journeys. It just seems there for some colourful background to the film until quite a sudden shock, physically jolting the audience, towards the end of the film.

The next story is that of Tom, an elderly man, retired, but a private detective who can’t keep still and wants to be on the job, married for a long time, the touch of vanity, the loving tensions with his wife. Tom and his wife are played by real-life husband and wife actors, Terry Norris and Julia Blake. Tom has quite a bit to do in the film and this is one of Terry Norris’s most engaging performances.

As might be imagined, the other two stories of those of Grace’s parents, Dan, who owns a furniture shop in the city, who comes across rather differently in each of the other stories, sometimes unlikeable, sometimes diffident, sometimes genial with his daughter. And the subplot about his relationship with one of his staff at the store and discussing the issues with Tom makes the story more interesting. Dan is played by Richard Roxburgh.

Denise is his wife, played by Radha Mitchell, mainly seen at home, in an enjoyably superfluous scene about the cleaning of her furniture, phoning her husband at work, then on the road looking for Grace, revealing a secret to Grace – and, significantly, stopping for a toilet break on the way home.

In many ways, the film is bits and pieces, some of them significant, many of them quite slight, and a number seeming more significant than they turned out actually to be. For this reviewer, this made the impact less telling than many other reviewers have found. But it needs to be seen in the context of the contemporary Australian cinema scene – and the emergence of Odessa Young as a strong screen presence.


1. The title, the focus, the different stories, grace and redemption?

2. The writer-director, her perspective, on Greece, on the women, on the men?

3. The locations, Western Australia, the desert, the sheep country, the open road? Bus trips, stations and motels? Holmes? Perth, the city? Police? The range of the musical score and its corresponding to different moods and characters?

4. The structure, the many stories, Grace first, Bruce, Tom, Dan, Denise? Like a puzzle, jigsaw, the pieces, overlapping, the different perspectives?

5. The basic narrative, grace, her age, relationship with her parents, taking the money, travelling to Ceduna and the concert, the note with Sorry, Mum, in the company of Sappho, chatting, Jamie getting on the bus, their sex quiz and what it revealed? Sappho, upset with Grace, the motel, staying the night, deciding to stay? Grace continuing on the bus, the meal with Jamie, the sex and his approach, pleasant, wishing her well but stealing money? Grace asking about the payment? The reaction of the people? Walking away, sleeping in the truck, running from her parents?

6. The story of Bruce, driving the truck, his work, with Philip, – and his disappearing from the film until the shocking accident?

7. Tom, in the mirror, his teeth and the effect of the toothpaste the discussions with his wife, their arguments, the phone call and his kind of the job, private detective, packing, number of underpants, each of them fussing? Meeting the parents? The discussions, his work, the police? His travelling with the couple, helping, information about the cash? The Frank Talk with Dan about relationships, his temptation to an affair, his fit on the bed, getting better, assisting after the accident?

8. Denise and Dan, the tensions in the marriage, the search for Grace, Denise telling Grace about person when she was 17 and his not contacting her? Not telling Dan? At home, the cleaners and discussion about the lounge? The phone calls to Dan, his being absent? The news, the group, the supporting families, the information about Sappho, Rosemary and leaving, Denise concerned about driving? Leaving with Tom and Dan, finding Grace, talking, telling her the truth, the toilet stop, the suddenness of her accident?

9. Dan, different perspectives on him, his behaviour with Grace, behaviour with Denise? As a father? His shop, management, secretary, the affair, the protracted awkwardness of the motel, his liking the room, the woman and her place in the shop, his hesitations, feeling sick? Return, the phone calls from Denise? Finding Grace, his complaint about the smell of her shoes? The discussion with Tom and its frankness? The toilet breaks, the accident?

10. The ambulance, following the car, stopping, the paramedics getting out, Denise’s death? The effect on everyone?

11. The money being found, Denise dead, Dan and his future, Grace and her future?