“Lake Mungo”: wizardry from Oz

The outline of “Lake Mungo” is how an Australian family, its neighbors and acquaintances suffer through the sudden loss of a 16 year old daughter, the unraveling of secrets, and perceptions turned into enmity close to hatred.
The incident is a drowning.

What follows are detailed, keenly observed reactions of all who were touched by Alice Palmer’s (Talia Zucker) death.

Sometime after Alice’s father Russell (David Pledger) identifies the cadaver found by the police underwater, her younger brother Matthew (Martin Sharpe) fabricates ethereal visions of his sister in composited photographs.
Perhaps he is in denial, or misreads his mother’s (Rosie Traynor) denial as hope that Russell misidentified their daughter, and feels he should support this.
Perhaps too, he is simply trying to understand his sister, who was becoming distant with them all, prior to her death.
This review does not have a trailer because the trailer actually is misleading.
“Lake Mungo” was filmed documentary style, with the actors playing their part as interviewed by an unseen filmmaker.

This put some distance between the viewer and the film, I think, but “Lake Mungo” has a strong intellectual pull: the characters are decent people for the most part, and their psychological arcs as more secrets reveal themselves are realistic and well defined, a rarity.
There is neither horror nor real suspense in this, but there is palpable humming tension throughout, with the uglier part of human nature spiking up in a couple scenes.
This is psychological fare, rather than visual, individual boundaries are tested and weaknesses revealed in this sad, disappointing fashion that is true to life, like the blemish on a previously thought shining armor, or the lies big or small, when they are found out.
Though Matthew did fake photos of her sister, her figure begins to appear in footage taken in the family home when Matthew was on the road with a parapsychologist, Ray Kemeny (Steve Jodrell).
Unbeknownst to Alice’s parents, she had been consulting with Kemeny about disturbing dreams she was plagued with and the story takes a decidedly supernatural turn made believable by very good writing and excellent acting.
Since the days of Ozploitation, Australia has really been putting out great cinema. While “picnic at Hanging Rock” had much seductive impact, “Lake Mungo” qualifies as a perhaps more rational sibling, but an elegant one in its honesty.

“Lake Mungo” gets 5 jellybeans.