''Cactus'' is a 2008 Australian

mystery Mystery, The Mystery, Mysteries or The Mysteries may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Fictional characters *Mystery, a cat character in ''Emily the Strange'' *Mystery, a seahorse that SpongeBob SquarePants adopts in the episode " My Pre ...

thriller film Thriller film, also known as suspense film or suspense thriller, is a broad film genre that evokes excitement and suspense in the audience. The suspense element found in most films' plots is particularly exploited by the filmmaker in this genre. ...

, it is the directing debut for Jasmine Yuen-Carrucan.

Synopsis

''Cactus'' is a

road movie A road movie is a film genre, genre of film in which the main characters leave home on a road trip, typically altering the perspective from their everyday lives. Road movies often depict travel in the hinterlands, with the films exploring the the ...

centred on a kidnapping.

Plot

The movie begins with John Kelly pulling Eli Jones (David Lyons) from his city residence, drugging him and driving across regional Australia for three days. On the journey, John and Eli begin to interact and talk, as well as having a run-in with a rogue cop and encountering "Thommo", a trucker.

Cast

Travis McMahon Travis McMahon is an Australian actor. For his performance in '' Stingers'' he was nominated for the 2001 Australian Film Institute Award for Best Performance by an Actor in a Guest Role in a Television Drama Series. After graduating from ...

as John Kelly * David Lyons as Eli Jones *

Bryan Brown Bryan Neathway Brown AM (born 23 June 1947) is an Australian actor. He has performed in over eighty film and television projects since the late 1970s, both in his native Australia and abroad. Notable films include '' Breaker Morant'' (1980), ...

as Rosco (the 'outback Cop') *

Shane Jacobson Shane Jacobson (born 18 March 1970) is an Australian actor, entertainer, director, writer, and comedian, best known as the " Dunny Man" for his performances as the eponymous character Kenny Smyth, a plumber working for a portable toilet rental ...

as Thommo * Zoe Tuckwell-Smith as Sammy *

Daniel Krige Daniel Krige (born 16 July 1970) is a writer, director and actor. Early life Born in Cape Town, South Africa, he grew up in Australia. Krige began working as a writer at the age of sixteen for Grundy Television. Krige attended the Australian ...

as Mal *

Celia Ireland Celia Ireland (born 16 May 1966) is an Australian actress. She is best known for her role as Regina Butcher on the television series '' All Saints'' and her Logie award winning role as Liz Birdsworth on the prison drama series '' Wentworth''. ...

as Vesna * Seymon Eckert as Katie * John Martin as Petrol Attendant * Steve Rodgers as Spuddo (voice) * Wayne Walker as Ute Driver * Cheyenne as Charlie Sparkles *

Craig Bartlett Craig Michael Bartlett (born October 18, 1956) is an American animator. He wrote, directed, created, and produced the Nickelodeon television series ''Hey Arnold!'' and the PBS Kids television series ''Ready Jet Go!'' and ''Dinosaur Train''. C ...

as Radio Operator * Robert Whiteside as Bar Patron * Russell Hunt as Bar Patron * Robert Shearim as Bar Patron * Elspeth Baird as Gardening woman

Production

The directing debut of Jasmine Yuen Carrucan was shot in

New South Wales New South Wales (commonly abbreviated as NSW) is a States and territories of Australia, state on the Eastern states of Australia, east coast of :Australia. It borders Queensland to the north, Victoria (state), Victoria to the south, and South ...

in the cities of Bathurst,

Broken Hill Broken Hill is a city in the Far West (New South Wales), far west region of outback New South Wales, Australia. An inland mining city, it is near the border with South Australia on the crossing of the Barrier Highway (A32) and the Silver City Hi ...

Cobar Cobar is a town in Outback New South Wales, Australia, whose economy is based mainly upon base metals and gold mining. The town is by road northwest of the state capital, Sydney. It is at the crossroads of the Kidman Way and Barrier Highwa ...

, Sydney and

Wilcannia Wilcannia is a small town located within the Central Darling Shire in north western New South Wales, Australia. Located on the Darling River, the town was the third largest inland port in the country during the river boat era of the mid-19th c ...

. Bryan Brown worked on it as executive producer.

Style

The film uses many of the classic

motifs such as break downs, fuel stops and long stretches of empty road, with a

cinematography Cinematography () is the art of motion picture (and more recently, electronic video camera) photography. Cinematographers use a lens (optics), lens to focus reflected light from objects into a real image that is transferred to some image sen ...

that is conventionally modern.

Release

The film premiered on 1 May 2008 in Australia. It was part of the

Brooklyn International Film Festival The Brooklyn Film Festival (BFF), prior to 2011 called the Brooklyn International Film Festival (BiFF) is an independent film festival held every June in New York City. Started by Marco Ursino, Susan Mackell, Abe Schrager, and Mario Pegoraro in ...

in June 2008 and the

Munich Film Festival Munich is the capital and most populous city of Bavaria, Germany. As of 30 November 2024, its population was 1,604,384, making it the third-largest city in Germany after Berlin and Hamburg. Munich is the largest city in Germany that is no ...

on 28 June 2008.

Cultural references

Ford Ford commonly refers to: * Ford Motor Company, an automobile manufacturer founded by Henry Ford * Ford (crossing), a shallow crossing on a river Ford may also refer to: Ford Motor Company * Henry Ford, founder of the Ford Motor Company * Ford F ...

Holden Holden, formerly known as General Motors-Holden, was an Australian subsidiary company of General Motors. Founded in Adelaide, it was an automobile manufacturer, importer, and exporter that sold cars under its own marque in Australia. It was ...

rivalry

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Cactus (2008 Film) 2008 films 2008 psychological thriller films Australian road movies 2000s road movies Films set in Australia Films shot in Australia Films scored by Nerida Tyson-Chew Australian mystery thriller films 2008 directorial debut films 2000s English-language films English-language thriller films