Emily Barclay Movies

Director Zack Snyder teams with screenwriters John Collee and John Orloff to adapt author Kathryn Lasky's popular series of children's books about a group of kidnapped owlets who take flight to save their kingdom from an ancient evil by locating the legendary Guardians of Ga'Hoole. As a young hatchling, Soren would sit transfixed whenever his father would tell the tale of the Guardians of Ga'Hoole and their tireless efforts to defeat the malevolent Pure Ones, whose aim was to exterminate the entire owl population. After hearing the high-flying tales of adventure, Soren would fantasize about gliding through the clouds with the brave owl soldiers while his jealous older brother, Kludd, attempted to gain their father's favor by becoming a skilled hunter. One day, Kludd's anger gets the best of him, and the next thing he knows he's tumbling over the edge of the nest with Soren. But instead of falling to the ground, the siblings are quickly snatched up by the dreaded Pure Ones, and are taken to a place where their parents will never find them. Incredibly, Soren and group of fearless young owls manage to stage a daring escape. With the future of the owl kingdoms hanging in the balance, brave Soren and his newfound friends travel to the ends of the earth in hopes of finding the mythical Great Tree and convincing the Guardians of Ga'Hoole to help defeat the Pure Ones once and for all. ~ Jason Buchanan, Rovi

A cop haunted by an accidental killing begins looking into a murder case that's nearly 40 years old in this crime drama from Australian director Cate Shortland. Richard Treloar (Richard Roxburgh) is a police detective who is thrown into an emotional tailspin after a shooting incident. When Treloar has trouble handling his responsibilities, he's reassigned to the police force's museum, where he's to help curate a photography exhibit. While going though prints for the upcoming show, Treloar notices an attractive blonde woman keeps popping up in pictures from the mid-'60s, ending with a crime-scene photo of her after she was shot to death. Treloar becomes curious about who she was and what became of her, and discovers her murder was never solved, prompting him to begin looking into the case. Meanwhile, Treloar's emotional problems and new obsession with the mysterious blonde lead to serious problems in his relationship with his girlfriend, Helen (Alice McConnell), which only get worse when he becomes infatuated with his psychiatrist (Essie Davis). The Silence was originally produced for Australian television, but its success with both audiences and critics led to a subsequent theatrical release; the film had its North American premiere at the 2006 Toronto Film Festival. ~ Mark Deming, Rovi

In My Father's Den (2005), a universally acclaimed New Zealand feature, swept over 15 international honors and virtually owned the 2005 New Zealand Film Awards. This intelligently crafted, penetrating drama travels in the footsteps of such masterpieces as The Myth of Fingerprints, In the Bedroom, and The Son's Room by detailing an indigenous, scarred family's attempt to heal from age-old wounds. The haunting story begins with war journalist Paul (Matthew MacFadyen), who returns to his childhood home to bury his father. Although few words are spoken, the pain and resentment of past traumas continue to sear and burn in Paul's mind, and become rapidly evident via Paul's struggles to interact normally with his brother (Colin Moy) and eerily laconic sister-in-law (the celebrated Miranda Otto). Upon moving into a local cottage, Paul feels somewhat validated and encouraged when he inadvertently (and innocently) befriends a teenager, Celia (Emily Barclay), an intelligent girl with a love of books who starts to borrow volumes from Paul's personal library; they share a distaste for the community and its people, and a difficulty with social adjustment. But when Celia goes missing, and all fingers in the narrow-minded, gossip-ridden small town point in Paul's direction, the bough starts to break for the young man. In an effort to clear the accusations, Paul starts an informal investigation, from which the unspoken secrets of his family's past and the mystery of Celia's absence will ultimately dovetail into a tragic discovery. ~ Nathan Southern, Rovi