Beautiful Kate (2009)

Well I enjoyed watching this movie, a rare occurrence these days when you can rely on good acting and script to keep the viewer entertained. The subject matter may be sensitive to some but here it works well.

I just wasn't in the mood for this, I don't think

A bit slow but great acting and a very difficult subject well treated. Worth watching.

A very difficult topic handled well, with generally believable acting performances and great scenary and cinematography. Another Aussie film well worth watching.

I think many of the people who have written here, have missed the point of this movie. Yes, there is an uncomfortable 'issue' in the center of the storyline, but that is really only a tool employed by the writer to get to the more important matter. This movie explores, in a completely original way, the interpersonal dynamics of a family struggling with tragedy and loss. The people in this family are very real human beings. They try to make the right choices, but these choices are not always the best ones. The real theme of 'Beautiful Kate' is guilt and forgiveness. Great writing and acting. I highly recommend this movie.

I am truly disturbed by some of the reviews here. Yes this is a tough subject matter and yes, these things do happen to people and families. We can sit back and say it's weird, gross and all the other frighteningly value laden labels people care to attach. But the film is beautifully shot and I think the story is sensitively told. The acting is first rate allowing us to get as genuine a picture as possible of what happens to some families and the often complex inter-relationships. Let's get a bit real folks...

Pretty confronting and I felt rather depressed afterwards but great acting and the story believable albeit a bit disturbing.

Great movie... acting was great, compelling storyline.

Really enjoyed this film,great direction by Rachael Ward, Brian Brown's performance is superb.Fine Australian film.

Not worth watching

I saw some of the other reviews on here that mentioned Australian film-makers seem to be hell-bent on making movies about social taboos and difficult subjects and that is very much the case here. Well performed and nicely shot, but it's just a bit dreary. 2 and a half stars.

I repeat the words of the previous reviewer. Very dark and confronting but great acting. Wouldn't recommend. Stars are for the acting. It is believable however and how sad too.

Very dark and confronting at times! Bryan Brown was excellent in his role. I don't know about 'Beautiful Kate' there was nothing beautiful about her. She wasn't a 'nice girl'. Worth the effort though!

A film about a mans guilt and blame for something that wasn't his fault. It should have been called "Simple Kate" because there is nothing beautiful in this film. The movie is dark, depressing, and negitive.... For those that say the film is sad, what is really sad is that the Australian Film industry wastes money on such stuff.

Not my taste =-gave up after 15 minutes

I found this film a bit boring and I didn't really think the storyline was realistic

Thought provoking. Sad.

disturbing content, great acting and directing.

Depicts the other side of the coin of how certain behavours may be just in the genes of "the weaker sex", a behaviour that justice may be blind to. An eye-opener of what can be the truth in family relationships

Again, well acted and interesting and dark plot...just wish occasionally Australian film did not feel it neccessary to whack you over the head with social commentary. Worth a look.

Not the happiest of movies (and that's an understatement!) with a taboo topic (sibling love) but beautifully acted, with particular credit to Ben Mendelsohn and Bryan Brown. The young actress who plays Kate also does a very credible job. Well worth watching if you don't mind a slightly squirmy topic and plenty of drama involving a very dysfunctional family in conflict.

Brian Brown was exceptional in this film. Great performances, intelligent script and very moving.

Enjoyed this movie apart from the incest and being a little bit slow.

very deep. Very much a serious film.

a truly beatiful film

Boring

Enjoyable movie, disturbuing story. Good acting

Same old rant and rave, dark and davey crockett

If you can get over the incest part of this movie, then it's a great story

Beautifully filmed, magnificently acted. Worth watching even though the story is a bit worn.

a little sick as most are saying! If you took the incest out of it, it would have been much better!

Awful, couldn't watch it to the end.

If you have the patience to watch the movie get to the point I thought it was a very sad and emotional subject with a positive outcome and an unexpected twist at the end. This subject probably relates more to real life than you think. Great Australian setting if you love the outback.

depressing and uncomfortabel movie left you feeing sick..

not my type of movie

Although the topic was confronting and a little squeamish to watch at times it was well tackled and the actors first class aussie movie at its best

Hauntingly beautiful film starring the cream of Australian actors. A film to remember.

Too much about incest and weird thoughts. Not really recommended

The trailers to this movie were very very misleading.. less than impressed with this garbage

Yeh! it was interesting pretty sick if you ask me quite offensive the sister what was her problem!

An interesting and twisting portrayal of life in an isolated family, and of the long-term consequences of seemingly unimportant decisions. Well acted, well paced, well thought out.

I felt a bit misled by the trailers of this movie. Having said that I did think it was an interesting story that was told incredibly well. Very challenging topic, very difficult to watch at times but definitely worth sticking with the movie as it takes some unexpected turns. I can't say I enjoyed it but not all good films are enjoyable, it has definitely resonated with me which says something. It does show how complicated life, love and families can be.

A very well acted and written story about a look into the dark history of a family.

I didn't particularly like any of the characters especially Kate - i thought it was a bit disappointing although quite beautifully shot.

Eeeeck - no thanks

an interesting movie sent in the beautiful Australian outback, with Brian brown portraying the very stricked father, and of a son to come back and help his younger sister nurse his dying farther, and of the hidden secrets of his youth

Very good Australian movie. I dont get why they called her Beautiful Kate. I can kind of understand the intimacy that goes with twins, but I thought she was sexually abrupt, a teaser, maybe I missed the plot!!!

Wow, tough story magnificently told.

Excellent - quality Australian drama!

I didn't see the end of this but the first part was good. Two stars for the first part

I thought this was a terrible movie. I was surprised as it got good reviews, but the characters were unlikable - particularly the annoying girlfriend - and no one seemed to have any real depth to them. It was just an odd movie, and I found it a little disturbing and depressing to be honest.

An intense but ultimately very moving Australian drama beautifully directed by Rachel Ward with excellent performances. It is confronting subject matter but it is well worth staying with as it goes to unexpected emotional places.

This is great Aussie cinema. Set in a stark and arid landscape , dark and emotionally unsettling this is a story that you will be still thinking about for days after . Rachel Ward is a director I will be watching for what she comes up with next.

Superbly acted and written; secrets, lies and unexpected grace in confronting the past

A wonderful australian drama.

a great step forward in australian drama, for those who have not yet seen this, a shocking surprise awaits, though the backdrop adds perfectly to the story, captivating the whole way through

Gritty Aussie drama that touches real issues. Slow to build but then just captivated me.

Compelling viewing. Ben Mendelsohn steals the show with great dying support by Brian Brown. Beautifully shot, and a dark, and slightly disturbing story beneath. I just wonder if Ben is being typecast into dark roles (see Animal Kingdom!)

This is a very confronting movie but SO elegantly portrays the subject. Great acting,

Had to write a review to try to set the record straight. IF you are one of those people who watch movies to be entertained, then strictly speaking I guess this one's not for you. Stick to Action Comedies. But if you are looking for a touching, engaging, heart-breaking, haunting drama about a dysfunctional family that has been through the wringer, that is also beautifully shot and scored, then I would thoroughly recommend Beautiful Kate. Very well acted, too, especially by the younger cast members. The subject matter IS disturbing so don't put it on for your grandmother.

Breathtaking and heart felt movie, and confronting, but not depressing. Loved the movie

This is a fantastic Australian film with a great cast and an interesting story. A definite must see!

I enjoyed this movie, whilst a little confronting it had a bit of everything australian landscape, good actors, subtle comedy, disturbing themes and light and shade. Defiantly worth a look

I tried really hard to like this because it is, afterall, a slice of contemporary Australian culture. However, there is no escaping the fact that this is really turgid stuff. Four surprisingly wooden performances by a, generally, seasoned cast; all stumbling around an HSC-standard, angst-ridden, script. The characters, past and present, are neither likable nor engaging and the inevitable demise of some of them comes as a blessed relief.

It takes a while to figure out what this movie is actually about. It's not about the difficult relationship a 40 year old struggles to keep on even keel with a feisty, self-absorbed, wilful beauty half his age, although that is fun to watch. It's actually about what happened in the past, told through increasingly longer and more meaningful flashbacks. Absorbing stuff in a good Aussie movie. Harsh Australian landscape seems like a character in the story.

I am bias towards Aussie movies, hence the 4 rating. Set in the isolated, rugged outback, this is a powerful story about family trauma involving sexual secrets, and long term heartaches. Be prepared for strong language and sex scenes, all necessary and relevant to explain the family conflict. Mendelsohn is excellent, as is Griffiths ( I would like to have seen more of her character developed, such a great actress for a small role ) Like Clint Eastwood and John Wayne, Bryan Brown plays Bryan Brown no matter what the role requires, but he does a good job as the belligerent, angry Father. Quality acting by all the support cast is evident. The film is well directed by Ward (debut) and builds slowly before all is revealed. A quality nights entertainment.

This is an exceptional film - disturbing but not offensive. Ward has a tight touch on a controversial topic. Sophie Lowe is an amazing new talent but the 'knowns' like Mendelsohn and Griffiths as well as the newcomers complement each other in a subtle morality tale. Even Bryan Brown isn't his usual annoying 'ocker' self in what is probably the role of his life. Beautiful.

In this banner year of Aussie films, BK is a stand-out, however, its subject matter is demanding. With a beautiful but crass girlfriend in tow, a brooding Ned Kendall (Ben Mendelsohn) reluctantly returns home somewhere in the remote Flinders Ranges to bid farewell to his dying and spiteful widower father (Bryan Brown). The mood is tense, relationships strained and the dysfunctional family situation gets darker as a series of sexually loaded flashbacks pack one emotional layer upon another. Director Rachel Ward takes viewers on a powerfully poignant journey into kindred blackness and then, abruptly, into resolution’s sunlight. The cast including Rachel Griffiths and Sophie Lowe as Ned’s sisters, commonsense Sally, and spirited Kate, give inspiring performances.