Dirt Music Parent Guide

Wondrous scenery – white sand beaches, soaring red cliffs, turquoise bays – fills Dirt Music, a dispiriting romantic drama from Down Under. When the love story falters, Australia’s stunning Western coastline does its best to make up for the lack of chemistry in the rest of the film. And, boy, does it ever need to try hard…

The movie opens with Georgie Jutland (Kelly MacDonald), an ex-nurse frustrated by an emotionally arid relationship with her boyfriend, local fishing magnate, Jim Buckridge (David Wenham). Chance meetings with Lu Fox (Garrett Hedlund) as she skinny dips in the ocean and later when her vehicle breaks down, bring Georgie and Lu together, most dramatically in a fully clothed sexual encounter before she even knows his name.

The relationship between Georgie and Lu is the heart of the film, but it often feels desultory. It’s difficult to tell if passion is pulling the couple together, or if they’re simply two lost souls drifting together on the tides of circumstance. To be fair, Georgie is less a lost soul than an aimless one, not sure what she wants from life. Lu, on the other hand, is indeed lost, reeling and scarred by a devastating family tragedy. “I’m a burning, screaming wreck and I’ll always be one,” he tells Georgie. And he isn’t kidding. When his inner demons send him hitchhiking the northern road to Australia’s remote islands, he comes disturbingly close to suicide-by-nature.

This production isn’t rated but it has enough content issues to push it easily into Restricted territory. Thirty-three sexual expletives are only the beginning of the problematic content, as is the film’s sexual material. Most violence takes place off screen but the alcohol consumption does not. Main characters drink beer, wine, and whiskey frequently and are shown intoxicated. There is also a discussion of drunk driving but that behavior is not excused and its consequences are made clear. Dirt Music does not glamorize impaired driving: in fact, its treatment of the issue could work as a public service announcement for MADD. This film is a great way to scare anyone out of driving under the influence, which might be its most constructive contribution.

It’s tough to determine the audience for Dirt Music. While there is demand for romantic dramas that aren’t saccharine, those viewers tend to have higher expectations for plot and ambience. Sadly, this film’s lackluster romance, protracted final act, and dreary emotional background fail to match either viewer expectations or the splendor of the scenery in which the story is set.