Romulus, My Father

Aroview: Actor Richard Roxburgh debuts from behind the camera in this evocative, richly hued memoir of a devoted immigrant father, and his adoring 9-year-old son in 50s rural Australia.

Exquisitely depicting the rigors of growing up poor, and in particular, the ongoing struggle between Romulus (Bana) and his mentally fragile wife (Potente), this impresses as a poignant but never over-sentimentalized coming-of-age tale. If occasionally subsiding into melodrama and in need of some extra narrative force, dir. Roxburgh’s thespian lineage earns the film its pathos through performance.

NZ International Film Festival 2007