I suppose it was just a matter of time before an Australian film arrived called Kangaroo Island. That title certainly has an air of exportability – and, in director Timothy David’s drama about family and home, an emotional double meaning. The “island” represents psychological places in which we strand ourselves, and the “kangaroo” represents the ways we hop over our … um … oh, who am I kidding? There’s no double meaning: it’s just the name of the actual island, located south-west of Adelaide, where most of the story takes place.
But this film certainly has international audiences in mind, beginning in Los Angeles where we meet Lou (Rebecca Breeds), an actor who some time ago caught the proverbial midnight train from Kangaroo Island and arrived in Tinseltown with big dreams. She’s had a few gigs, but is in a career slump when she receives a plane ticket back home from her father, Rory (Erik Thomson). Lou has no intention of actually going but, when engaged in an awkward situation with a police officer who pulls her over, uses the ticket to prove she’s in a rush.
