The Nightingale

There are shades of Walkabout and The African Queen in Jennifer Kent's assured second feature following her acclaimed 2013 chiller The Babadook. But there's also a gruelling start to this tale set in Tasmania in 1825, when a shocking act compels young Irish convict Clare (Aisling Franciosi) to hunt down and exact vengeance on a brutal British officer (Sam Claflin). Franciosi is a revelation as Clare, her cherubic features belying a transformation into a veritable Tasmanian she-devil. She enlists surly Aboriginal tracker Billy (Baykali Ganambarr), a man with traumas of his own, to guide her across the island's tough terrain in pursuit of her quarry. The iniquities of racism, colonialism and class chauvinism are vividly played out during their odyssey and, though the film is a bit on the long side, it's beautifully composed.