The Plains

2022

Documentary / Drama

1
Rotten Tomatoes Critics - Certified Fresh 100% · 13 reviews
IMDb Rating 6.6/10 10 329 329

Plot summary

At 17:00 every day, Andrew, a middle-aged man, drives home from work through Melbourne’s outer suburbs in peak-hour traffic. Occasionally, he offers a lift home to a younger colleague, David. Over a year, their tentative small talk gives way to a warm friendship and open conversation within the confines of the vehicle, incrementally revealing their lives.

Director

David Easteal Photo
David Easteal

Top cast

Christos Tsiolkas Photo
Christos Tsiolkas as Radio Guest
David Easteal Photo
David Easteal as David
Andrew Rakowski Photo
Andrew Rakowski as Andrew
Cheri LeCornu Photo
Cheri LeCornu as Cheri
720p.WEB 1080p.WEB
1.61 GB
1280*654
English 2.0
NR
Subtitles us   de   es   fr   it   nl   pt   tr  
25 fps
2 hr 59 min
Seeds ...
2.99 GB
1818*928
English 2.0
NR
Subtitles us   de   es   fr   it   nl   pt   tr  
25 fps
2 hr 59 min
Seeds 1

Movie Reviews

Reviewed by ongoam 6 / 10

Boring but better

David Easteal serves as writer, director, producer, editor and actor on the project. A Melbourne-based barrister and film maker, Easteal would give Rakowski a lift to and from work, their commute conversations served as the basis for the film, which were then scripted and filmed. Drone shots in Horsham, Victoria are also used as well as commuter traffic in Melbourne. And Richard Kuipers in Variety described it as "thematically rich and quietly compelling". Ben Kenisberg in The New York Times said that "fans of structural film, Jeanne Dielman and Google Maps will find much to treasure. Luke Buckmaster in The Guardian described it as a "tremendous achievement and, in a subtle way, an amazing work of art" and that it demonstrates that "drama can exist without the dramatic and that engaging narratives are everywhere around us, observable with the right eyes."He later included it as number one in his list of the top ten Australian films of the year.
Reviewed by andy742 5 / 10

I cannot recommend this film, but I couldn't stop watching it

I don't know, I don't know why I stuck it out, I don't know how I made it through 3 hours of really not much happening at all.I would find it hard to recommend this film to friends because you basically sit in the backseat of multiple car rides for 95% of the film. I can't possibly suggest that it would be interesting. But then again I kept watching and didn't walk out on it.I felt it was quite brave for someone to release a film like this and that deserves merit.It was real, but it wasn't real exciting - it almost felt unscripted, partially at least, maybe that's just a credit to the few actors involved.Go into this understanding what it is and what it is not...
Reviewed by drjacobgrayson 5 / 10

This 3hr doc could be tightened up a lot

So it's about 40 minutes of content for a 3-hour documentary. That's not a lot of value for your time frankly. Much of the 3 hours is spent in silence watching a guy drive through traffic. Some of the time is spent in the parking lot just waiting for the guy to come get in the car. So this is the type of excitement you can expect. It reminded me of the days before cell phones when all you could do in the car was just look out the window and wonder how long it was going to take to get home. Having said all that, this documentary is kind of a real life exploration of everyday life, and from that perspective I could appreciate it. I just wish it hadn't taken so long.
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