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Mystery Road
Mystery Road
	Theatrical film poster
Directed by	Ivan Sen
Written by	Ivan Sen
Produced by	David Jowsey
Starring	Aaron Pedersen; Hugo Weaving; Jack Thompson; Ryan Kwanten; Tasma Walton;
Cinematography	Ivan Sen
Edited by	Ivan Sen
Music by	Ivan Sen
Release dates	5 June 2013 (Sydney FF); 15 August 2013 (Australia);
Running time	121 minutes
Country	Australia
Language	English
Box office	$280,702

Mystery Road is a 2013 Australian crime film with neo-Western elements and setting,^[2] written and directed by Ivan Sen. It was screened in the Special Presentation section at the 2013 Toronto International Film Festival.^[3] A film sequel entitled Goldstone was released in 2016, and TV series in 2018, all featuring Aaron Pedersen as the brooding Indigenous Australian detective Jay Swan.

Plot

Near the rural town of Winton, Queensland, a truck driver finds the body of a teenage Aboriginal girl named Julie Mason inside one of the drainage culverts under the road. Newly promoted Aboriginal Detective Jay Swan, recently returned from training in the city, investigates the murder. He learns that Julie used to exchange sex with truck drivers for money. He attempts to question another local Aboriginal girl, Tarni Williams, who was friends with Julie, but she refuses to speak to him. A boy gives Jay Julie's phone, which has several text messages to Jay's teenage daughter, Crystal. He visits his ex-wife, Mary, and speaks to Crystal. Jay searches a farm near where Julie's body was found and meets its owner, Sam Bailey. Jay later finds out that another teenage Aboriginal girl had also gone missing earlier.

One morning Jay goes to the radio tower where truck drivers would take girls, and Jay observes men taking something off a truck and driving it to what appears to be a drug lab. As he drives away, his police colleagues, Johnno and Constable Roberts, flag him down. Johnno attempts to intimidate Jay. Jay later asks his boss about Johnno and is told that Johnno had some unspecified trouble in his previous assignment and had to transfer here, but that he is close to making some big arrests.

Jay visits the motel where Julie used to go to have sex with truckers. The motel owner tells him about a white man registered under the name "William Smith", who drives a white hunting truck who had registered there. Jay returns to Sam's farm, where he encounters Pete, who says his father isn't around, insults Jay, refuses to let him search his truck, and states that he works as a kangaroo hunter and is an expert shot. Jay goes back to the police station and pulls up Pete Bailey's police record, which shows a long criminal record, and that Pete had last been arrested for drug possession by another local police officer who had recently been killed on the job, but the file of the police investigation of the death of the slain police officer is missing. Jay visits the young widow of the deceased police officer, who tells him that the officer had been called to work by another, unnamed police officer on the night that he was killed.

Jay follows Johnno leaving the police station in a police car. Johnno switches vehicles and leaves in his own hunting truck, driving to a rest stop, where he meets a local drug dealer named Wayne Silverman. Jay later goes to Wayne's house and arrests him. Wayne tells Jay that he deals drugs to local Aboriginal girls and then prostitutes them out when they can't pay. He says that he had stolen a car that contained heroin, but subsequently lost the drugs. Johnno interrupts the interrogation to release Wayne, who is his informant. Jay then discovers a further murder victim, Tarni. He then finds that Mary's house has been broken into and Crystal's whereabouts are unknown.

Jay stakes out the drug lab and sees a man in an orange car hand over Wayne to someone in a Land Rover. Johnno and Jay go to a restaurant, where Johnno ignores his questions, but states that he is looking for something that's missing, implying that its discovery will keep Crystal safe. Jay searches the house of the initial victim, Julie, finding several bags of heroin hidden in the TV. He calls Johnno to arrange their return at a hill off Mystery Road.

When he arrives first for the drop-off, Jay loads his hunting rifle and pistol. The orange car and Land Rover arrive and Jay hands over the heroin. Jay sees Pete's truck in the distance, and Pete uses his hunting rifle to wound Jay in the arm. A shootout ensues as Jay runs back to his car for cover. The man who is wearing a mask is shot by Johnno, using a hunting rifle from a distance and, as the driver attempts to leave, Jay kills him. Jay and Johnno shoot several of the men dead. Pete and Johnno exchange long-distance shots as Jay kills all the rest of the criminals when they attempt to flee and then, using his father's rifle, disables Pete's truck when he tries to drive away. Jay kills Pete, then spots the dead body of Johnno and unmasks the orange car passenger to discover it is Constable Roberts. Jay finds Sam Bailey shot through the neck in the Land Rover, sees scratch marks on the backseat and finds a necklace with the name "Julie" on it.

Jay returns to Winton and sees Mary and Crystal waiting for him. He gets out of the car and the three stare at each other as the sun sets.

Cast

Aaron Pedersen as Detective Jay Swan
Hugo Weaving as Johnno
Ryan Kwanten as Pete Bailey
Jack Thompson as Charlie Murray
Tony Barry as Sarge
Robert Mammone as Constable Roberts
Tasma Walton as Mary Swan
Damian Walshe-Howling as Wayne Silverman
David Field as Sam Bailey
Bruce Spence as Jim, the local coroner
Jack Charles as Jay's uncle, "Old Boy"
Tricia Whitton as Crystal Swan, Jay's teenage daughter
Siobhan Binge as Tarni Williams
Danny Roberts as Macca
Samara Weaving as Peggy Rogers
Zoe Carides as Shirley, Motel Owner
Roy Billing as Robbo, Weapon Shop Owner
Lillian Crombie as Mrs. MacDonald

Reception

Critical response

Mystery Road received positive reviews from critics. On the review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes, the film has a score of 92% based on reviews from 36 critics, with an average rating of 7.3/10. The website's consensus reads, "Mystery Road evokes classic Westerns while using its Australian outback setting to delve into a surprisingly layered -- and powerfully impactful -- array of social issues."^[4]

Tom Clift of FILMINK called it a "masterfully executed slice of storytelling that rates as one of our finest films of the past few years."^[5] Sandra Hall of The Sydney Morning Herald also gave a positive review, commenting that "Mystery Road's links to the classic Hollywood western are as obvious as its hero's cowboy boots and white hat but they do nothing to diminish its Australianness."^[6] Craig Mathieson of The Sunday Age called it a "deeply satisfying and slow-burning modern-day western set in outback New South Wales, Ivan Sen's outstanding film Mystery Road bridges the current divide in Australian cinema with a prominent and precise work."^[7]

Not all reviews were positive. Alex Doenau of Trespass commented "There simply isn't enough dynamism to justify Sen's story. Australian movies have to work harder to secure audiences beyond those who go to them out of a sense of duty or worthiness; Mystery Road simply doesn't go that far."^[8]

The film was a rare foreign screening at the 2014 Pyongyang International Film Festival, North Korea.^[9]

Accolades

Award	Category	Subject	Result
AACTA Awards (3rd)	Best Film	David Jowsey	Nominated
	Best Direction	Ivan Sen	Nominated
	Best Original Screenplay	Ivan Sen	Nominated
	Best Actress	Tasma Walton	Nominated
	Best Editing	Ivan Sen	Nominated
	Best Sound	Lawrence Horne	Nominated
		Nick Emond	Nominated
		Joe Huang	Nominated
		Phil Judd	Nominated
		Les Fiddess	Nominated
		Greg Fitzgerald	Nominated
Asia Pacific Screen Awards	Best Actor	Aaron Pedersen	Nominated
Australian Film Critics Association Awards	Best Film	David Jowsey	Won
	Best Director	Ivan Sen	Won
	Best Actor	Aaron Pedersen	Won
	Best Supporting Actor	Hugo Weaving	Won
	Best Supporting Actress	Tasma Walton	Nominated
	Best Screenplay	Ivan Sen	Won
	Best Cinematography	Ivan Sen	Won
Film Critics Circle of Australia Awards	Best Film	David Jowsey	Won
	Best Director	Ivan Sen	Won
	Best Script	Ivan Sen	Nominated
	Best Actor	Aaron Pedersen	Won
	Best Actress	Tasma Walton	Nominated
	Best Supporting Actor	Tony Barry	Nominated
	Best Supporting Actor	Hugo Weaving	Nominated
	Best Cinematographer	Ivan Sen	Nominated
	Best Editing		Nominated
	Best Music		Nominated
	Best Production Design	Matthew Putland	Nominated

Sequel and spin-off series

Sen wrote and directed a sequel to Mystery Road, entitled Goldstone. Pedersen reprises his role, and joining the cast is David Wenham, Alex Russell, David Gulpilil and Jacki Weaver. A spin-off six-part TV series also titled Mystery Road screened on the ABC in 2018, with Series 2 shown in 2020, and Series 3 Mystery Road: Origin in 2022.

References

^ "Mystery Road". www.boxofficemojo.com. Retrieved 22 December 2018.
^ Cooke, Grayson (2014). "Whither the Australian Western? Performing genre and the archive in outback and beyond" (PDF). Transformations: Journal of Media and Culture (24): 3. ISSN 1444-3775. Archived (PDF) from the original on 11 April 2018. Retrieved 23 May 2019.
^ "Mystery Road". TIFF. Archived from the original on 20 August 2013. Retrieved 9 August 2013.
^ "Mystery Road". Rotten Tomatoes. Archived from the original on 6 March 2021. Retrieved 14 September 2022.
^ Clift, Tom (14 October 2013). "Mystery Road". Filmink. Archived from the original on 5 April 2014. Retrieved 23 April 2015.
^ Hall, Sandra (12 October 2013). "Mystery Road review: A sinister landscape". The Sydney Morning Herald. Archived from the original on 15 February 2014. Retrieved 23 April 2015.
^ Mathieson, Craig (13 October 2013). "Mystery Road". The Age. Archived from the original on 15 October 2013. Retrieved 23 April 2015.
^ Doenau, Alex (26 October 2013). "Review: Mystery Road". Trespass Magazine. Archived from the original on 4 March 2016. Retrieved 23 April 2015.
^ Sigley, Alek (29 December 2014). "North Korea and Western films do mix - The Drum (Australian Broadcasting Corporation)". ABC Online. Archived from the original on 29 December 2014. Retrieved 29 December 2014.