Sundance 2023: Blueback
Sundance Film FestivalWhen it comes to modern Australian cinema, few voices have proven to be as prolific as Robert Connolly who has put out a steady body of work for the last three decades. Connolly's newest feature, Blueback, turns the filmmaker towards an environmentalist lens. Screening as part of the 2023 Sundance Film Festival, Blueback follows a mother named Dora (Radha Mitchell) and her daughter named Abby (Mia Wasikowska) throughout their lives as they grow together with a connective tissue of the power they both share from the ocean.
Connolly's feature lives and breathes with intention and understanding surrounding a love for nature. Since the beginning of humanity, nature has held a special power that can help foster growth and healing. Blueback is a film that is rather obsessed with this concept as the flora, fauna, and non-living forces of nature are consistently held with respect and worship that is easy for audiences to relate to and empathize with. For Dora and Abby, nature plays a key part in their relationship with even a large grouper they swim with, basically becoming part of the family. This is a unique framing device that is handled with a craft and authenticity that is able to emotionally carry the film and provide the foundation a story like this needs.
It also is important as beyond the mother and daughter relationship at the film's core, Blueback is a film focused on bringing eyes to the importance of conservation. The film holds empathy and love for nature which it passes onto the viewers so that there is a deeper emotional understanding and attachment to wanting to save nature. There is a rather blunt understanding within the film that abusive practices from humans towards the ocean will kill the sea as we know it and ultimately the displayed magic will fade with it. Blueback never feels too preachy or idealistic with its messages surrounding this issue and the film is important to showcase both large and small-scale ways that humans can impact the ocean. The movie is mature enough to respect that humans do use the ocean as a resource and makes the more nuanced take to find a balance rather than cut all interaction. While this still might not be the newest conversation for modern cinema, it is a well-handled social relevance given to the film's backbone which helps flesh out the feature and gives it a deeper purpose which is always appreciated.
This is also key as the film is rather flawed in its other drama. While the dynamics between Dora and Abby can be worthwhile at times, the actors portraying the two characters also have a strong chemistry, the film's narrative features sporadic time jumps that fail to add much value to the project and only practically end up confusing the audience and making it harder to engage with the feature. It also is hard to find many messages or narrative points within Blueback that haven't been expressed elsewhere in recent cinema which can cause the film to land a bit flatter than it should. Even in its more successful moments, Blueback is hardly a revolutionary feature.
The visuals are also inconsistent. While it is clear that there are some limitations regarding the underwater scenes, the film makes a bold choice to bring its main grouper to life using a full-sized animatronic. While it is nice to have something physical and practical to ground the audience visually, how the film edits the fish into the underwater world is often a quite jarring experience. It doesn't help that a major emotional climax in the film revolves around the fish and a physical interaction with one of the actors that comes off as incredibly goofy rather than emotionally poignant.
While no one can question the heart of Blueback, the final film does leave some to be desired. The core conversation surrounding conservation and the power of nature does strike effectively, but the actual narrative structure of the film is messy and simply wrong for what the film ended up being. When one also considers the mixed results caused by the execution of the film and the slower pace that can cause the film's 102-minute runtime to drag, it is clear that Blueback ends up being a flawed effort that will end up getting more respect than enjoyment.
