Justine Clarke Movies

This stark, disturbing drama recreates a series of tragic events that racked Australia in March 1999 -- which local police acknowledged as one of the most inexplicable and senseless cases in memory. Kate Bell stars as Rachel Barber, a 15-year-old high school student living with her parents in Melbourne. Seemingly perfect -- beautiful, intelligent, talented, well-adjusted, and poised for wonderful things -- Rachel draws endless hostility from her neighbor and former babysitter, Caroline Reid (Ruth Bradley). Caroline seems to lack every advantage that Rachel possesses -- she's an overweight, homely 20-year-old with terrible skin, chronic depression, and a dysfunctional relationship with her parents. Full of bitterness and self-loathing, Caroline drums up an evil plan that will take Rachel's life. When Rachel then disappears, her parents immediately notify the police. The authorities are unfazed -- misinterpreting Rachel as just another adolescent runaway -- and can scarcely foresee the horrifying truth about the young woman's fate. First-timer Simone North directs; Sam Neill co-stars as Caroline's distant and uncomprehending father. ~ Nathan Southern, Rovi

Preoccupation with disasters and a growing sense of mortality threaten to derail the growing relationship between the witness of a train accident and the reporter sent to interview her in this daring drama from emerging Australian filmmaker Sarah Watt. As the weekend draws near, three troubled souls find themselves faced with pivotal, potentially life-changing events. Though the death of her father still looms heavily in her mind, Meryl (Justine Clark) is forced to cut short her bereavement in order to focus on a work-related deadline. While reporter Nick (William McInnes) awaits the prognosis after being informed that he has testicular cancer, his photographer Andy (Anthony Hayes) is preoccupied with his girlfriend's unplanned pregnancy. When a train crashes and Meryl is the sole witness to the horrifying event, Nick and Andy are sent to interview her, sparking an unusual affair between the grieving witness and the troubled reporter. ~ Jason Buchanan, Rovi

Following their feature debut, Road to Nhill, in 1997, screenwriter Alison Tilson and director Sue Brooks team up again for the Australian drama Japanese Story. Toni Collette stars as Sandy Edwards, an ambitious geologist who is most comfortable when working alone. She also runs a software design company with a business partner, Bill Baird (Matthew Dyktynski), and she doesn't get along very well with her mother (Lynette Curran). While trying to sell their software products, Bill asks for her help in catching a prospective client. Sandy reluctantly meets the quiet and reserved Japanese businessman Hiromitsu (Gotaro Tsunashima) in order to make a sale. After he requests that she take him on a driving tour, the odd couple find themselves stranded in the Pilbara desert for a night -- one of the most remote places in the Australian outback. During this time together, their relationship quickly escalates and both parties are changed by the experience. Japanese Story premiered at the 2003 Cannes Film Festival. ~ Andrea LeVasseur, Rovi

Set in Australia, this romantic drama chronicles the renewal and the vengeance of an abused child who grows up to become the troubled April, a young mother who is kidnapped during a robbery and taken to an abandoned warehouse where she later falls for a crook who is as physically scarred as she is emotionally scarred. ~ Sandra Brennan, Rovi

Based on the true story of "Major" Taylor, this is the story of an early twentieth century black athlete who bucks the prejudice and discrimination to find fame on the international circuit as he becomes a champion cyclist. ~ Tana Hobart, Rovi

About 15 years after the events of Mad Max 2, nuclear war has finally destroyed what little was left of civilization. Grizzled and older, former cop Max (Mel Gibson) roams the Australian desert in a camel-drawn vehicle -- until father-and-son thieves Jebediah Sr. (Bruce Spence) and Jr. (Adam Cockburn) use their jury-rigged airplane to steal his possessions and means of transportation. Max soon winds up in Bartertown, a cesspool of post-apocalyptic capitalism powered by methane-rich pig manure and overseen by two competing overlords, Aunty Entity (Tina Turner) and Master (Angelo Rossitto), a crafty midget who rides around on the back of his hulking underling, Blaster (Paul Larsson). Seeking to re-equip himself, Max strikes a deal with the haughty Aunty to kill Blaster in ritualized combat inside Thunderdome, a giant jungle gym where Bartertown's conflicts are played out in a postmodern update of blood and circuses. Although Max manages to fell the mighty Blaster, he refuses to kill him after realizing the brute is actually a retarded boy. Aunty's henchmen murder Blaster nonetheless, then punish Max for violating the law that "Two men enter, one man leaves." Lashed to the back of a hapless pack animal and sent out into a sandstorm, a near-death Max is rescued by a band of tribal children and teens. The descendants of the victims of an airplane crash, the kids inhabit a lush valley and wait for the day when Captain Walker, the plane's pilot, will return to lead them back to civilization. Some of the children, refusing to believe that Max isn't Walker and that the glorious cities of their mythology no longer exist, set off in search of civilization on their own. Max and three tribe members must then rescue their friends from Bordertown and the clutches of Aunty Entity -- a quest that ends in a lengthy desert chase sequence that echoes the first two Mad Max films. Spence also appeared in Mad Max 2 in a different role, that of the Gyro Captain. ~ Brian J. Dillard, Rovi