Tracks

Australian cinema of late hasn't been the nicest place to visit, between the unnerving horrors of Wolf Creek, the unrelenting pessimism of The Proposition, or the dead-weight tension of Animal Kingdom, things down under have been pretty bleak. But while Tracks doesn't exactly bring us back to Priscilla Queen Of The Desert or Muriel's Wedding, it does at least remind us that Australia is one of the most staggeringly beautiful places on Earth.

Based on the true story of Robyn Davidson (Mia Wasikowska), a young woman who constantly feels alienated by the rest of humanity, so she sets of on an almost 2,000 mile trek across the Western Australian desert with just four camels and the world's best dog for company. Except that the National Geographic magazine has funded her journey, so their photographer Rick Smolan (Adam Driver) pops up every few hundred miles to take some picturesque snaps.

Vying for your attention, there's a constant battle between which is more attention-grabbing; the naturally stunning landscapes, or Waskiowska's nuanced performance. Director John Curran doesn't have to try hard to make his film look gorgeous, even in some of the almost scorched-earth vistas that Robyn passes through. Wasikowska, on the other hand, obviously is trying hard, giving a career-high performance of an emotionally and mentally scarred woman, who is almost literally trying to abandon her previous life, leaving for what she believes to be an adventure but others believe to be certain death.

As may have been expected from a film about a woman who basically just walks in a straight line for two hours, there are moments of meandering, when interest sags and you're almost crying out for someone to arrive for Robyn to talk to. And sometimes they do, with our traveller encountering the most civilized of people the further away she drifts from civilization. But even then, you'll find yourself constantly amused by Robyn's non-human companions, the very humorous quartet of camels and Diggity, a dog so awesome you'll want to run up to the screen and hug it yourself.

An emotional, visually gorgeous journey that drags a little in places, but is totally worth it in the end.