Sunday, June 28, 2015

Solace and Freedom

Tracks (2013) - Curran
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I'm a sucker for road movies. If it's about a young woman, even better. Tracks is a film adaptation of Robyn Davidson's travelogue of the same name where she traveled across the 1700 miles of Australian desert to Indian Ocean with her trusty dog Diggity and 3 camels she acquired for the journey. It's the Australia in the 70s. Many hippie ideas are flowing and women's independence growing. A young white woman Robyn (Mia Wasikowska), tired of city life and inspired by her dad's African travels, decides to find solace and freedom in the desert. In order to finance the project, she contacts National Geographic and they send her a talkative and friendly photographer Rick Smolan (Adam Driver). At first, the presence of Smolan is a nuisance for fiercely independent Robyn, but he turns out to be understanding and supportive in her journey more than she gives credits for.

Shot in glorious anamorphic, the film's often stunning and eerily beautiful. Wasikowska is fast becoming my favorite actress. Considering her young age, her choices of roles impress me. She wears the same clothes and doesn't get to bathe often. She is sunburned, her skins cracking, her armpit hair shows, her hair's matted. The movie is also a searing love story between Robyn and her dog. Beautiful.