Popular reviews

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  Review by Peter Burt ★★★★ 21

  I am Tasmanian. I've been to many of the places depicted in this film, and even went to the same high school as the titular figure. The tragedy at Port Arthur has cast a wide shadow over my home state, it's something we all know but never talk about. It's a big deal. So I walked into Nitram incredibly nervous. It was a full cinema, the opening night, all of us Tasmanians. This could've been a disaster.

  Instead, it's an unflinching look into the void, the mind of an evil, tragic person. I'm not ready to fully analyse it, but I'll tell you that I almost forgot to breathe. It's incredibly unnerving, cold, and important. When it ended, the entire cinema was silent. Nobody wanted to make a sound. It felt like grieving.

  As someone who lives here, who mourns for the tragic loss we as a State experienced that day, Nitram wrecked me.

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  Review by ˗ˏˋ Liam ˊˎ˗ ★★★★

  it's good and it's important and i never want to watch it again

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  Review by davidehrlich ★★★½

  It would be hard to overstate the fear that I felt in anticipation of watching Justin Kurzel’s “Nitram” (an experience that I’ve semi-deliberately avoided since its premiere at the tail end of last year’s Cannes). For one thing, Kurzel has a rare gift for soul-clouding dread. I was first introduced to his work through “Snowtown,” a film so all-consumingly grim that it seemed to suck the light out of the universe in real time, leaving only the projector beam as a hostage to bear witness; it’s the kind of thing that demands to be written about in the past tense, as the stuff of memory rather than something that could still be queued up on Netflix, because there’s no way…

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  Review by braden ★★★★½ 5

  “I can’t keep my eye on you all the time”

  Tactfully and candidly examining its immensely difficult subject matter, Nitram is a quietly tense depiction of the lead-up to Australia’s tragic 1996 massacre in Port Arthur that handles the events and people involved in a way that feels unbiased and genuine without slipping into sympathy. Driven largely by Caleb Landry-Jones’ blistering performance as the eventual perpetrator, we observe a firsthand perspective into how his life is shaped and impacted by those around him; aiming not to place blame or establish a clear reason, but to treat the man as a human being - exploring the influences that led to the tragedy without reducing them to an easily digestible narrative. It’s careful never to promote the kind of behaviour it presents, while managing to keep the portrayal earnest and sensitive; offering a sincere point of view with a respect for objectivity that makes it especially powerful.

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  Review by B E R T ★★★★★ 2

  If I wasn’t completely depressed before this I sure as hell am now.

  So unbelievably bleak, so hopeless, so full of despair and sadness.

  The acting here is seriously some of THEE finest of the year, hands down you won’t see a better performance by a male actor this year than Caleb Landry Jones, you just won’t, I’m telling you, he is it!!! Same goes for Essie Davis too, who is just incredible and tore my heart in 2.

  It’s a very heavy film, and some may question as to why a movie about this subject and person needed to be made in the first place, but it’s well worth it, in my opinion.

  The epilogue sent a chill down my spine.

  Adding to the DEPRESSION LIST.

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  Review by CinemaVoid 🏴‍☠️ ★★★½

  A disturbing film about one of the darkest days in Australian history besides Heath Ledger’s death.

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  Review by ༘ ade ༘ ★★★★ 5

  Why was I feeling these oddly sadness and unjustifiable nuances crawling all over my body--

  
  This movie is a moral instrument to ennoble the mind. Complete silence at the end of it. Super powerful with incredible performances. Geez, I'm not okay...

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  Review by MarcJR ★★★★

  It’s one thing when a film raises the whole ‘nature vs nuture’ theory, yet it’s another when the same film offers a glimpse into the mind of a tortured soul who – if only for a split second – we might empathize with. After all, the unyielding pain from the past can’t be ignored when it lingers like a dark cloud failing to dissipate in the cold light of day. Here, the real horror is found in the deafening silence of those same questions that will continue to go unanswered. As an unbiased commentary on mental illness, social alienation and the complex nature of parental dynamics, Kurzel’s vision will shake audiences in a way that’s unexpected and that’s its hidden…

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  Review by anna nomaly ★★★★

  Processing tragedy in a culture of punishment leads to all sorts of "nature vs. nurture" and "good vs. bad" questions, each one designed to explain the hardest conclusions away, out of sight and out of mind. Offering no perfect solutions because no one can, Justin Kurzel dares to explore those conclusions, with a disturbing but undeniably human performance from Caleb Landry Jones cutting the path.

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  Review by Ethan Ethan ★★★★ 11

  Watching a movie I have 0 idea about with high expectations is always a risk, and I'm not disappointed. Caleb Landry Jones delivered well, portraying the innocence behind the violence. Yet this movie is not asking for sympathy or understanding by making us follow the infamous titular character, it's just asking us to see.

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  Review by Theo ★★★★

  Justin Kurzel aims not to exploit tragedy with Nitram, but to show that the people behind these terrible acts are human, humans with troubles and traumas like ours. He’s asking for us to observe, not condone. Painting a scathing, considered portrait on gun control, on how your son will act when you give him a rifle for Christmas and not love. How laying some blame at the feet of the mother sits with you will depend on whether you see her as oblivious, or ignorant. 

  Caleb Landry Jones is otherworldly as Nitram, his psychological state and societal detachment left to fester. He’s utterly desolate - eyes with no light in them, words carrying no weight. In the end, you see exactly…

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  Review by Jesus Meller ★★★★½ 8

  I’m a Tasmanian, why is that important? It’s because on the 28th - 29th April 1996 there was a shooting that shook, not just the state, but the country.

  That state was Tasmania. 

  A film so controversial that they had to only place the film on 4 days then take it off. Whenever locals spoke about this film, they thought of it of the worst piece of media that could be adapted, even though they haven’t seen it. Controversial as residents didn’t want the shooter to be sympathised on how he was placed in the world. People were scared but at the same time invested on how they could do a film about that fateful day. 

  Today I saw Nitram,…