The central plot of Jindabyne, adapted from a Raymond Carver story, has been transported from the Pacific Northwest to small-town Australia, said Peter Rainer in The Christian Science Monitor. Stewart Kane (Gabriel Byrne) and his buddies head out for a guys-only fishing trip. When they find the body of a murdered Aborigine woman floating in the water, they decide that instead of interrupting their trip, they'll hang out and fish for a few days. When they finally do report the body to the police, the town of Jindabyne is enraged, and Stewart's wife, Claire (Laura Linney), tries to find some way to repair the slight against the dead woman's community. Carver's original short story is simple, primarily concerning the men and the body. But director Ray Lawrence's adaptation adds several layers of complication by involving the men's families and making the dead woman an Aborigine. 'œBy expanding the confines of Carver's tale, Lawrence risks diluting its elemental power.' But he pulls it off, said Kenneth Turan in the Los Angeles Times. His careful dissection of the complicated reasons behind the men's behavior and the town's outrage proves fascinating. 'œWe live on the fault line along with these characters, and it is an experience that is not easy to shake off.' That's because the movie lacks a decent ending, said Rex Reed in The New York Observer. 'œFor a film so loaded with the potential for dramatic conflict,' Jindabyne has surprisingly little incident and no satisfying resolution.
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