User Reviews

My Rating : 7/10

"Relating a person to the whole world: that is the meaning of cinema."

The reason cinema exists is to comfort the jolted and jolt the comforted. 'Stray'- the title is very deliberately both noun and verb - is an understated fable of loss, alienation, banishment and - maybe - hope. (From Stuff NZ)

The film uses glimpses one after the other to reveal itself. It's a buzz best enjoyed alone in darkness. I watched it at the Dorothy Browns Cinema in Arrowtown, a place near Queenstown in New Zealand.

Lots and lots of beautifully striking static framing.

It says a lot without elaboration of everything, why is it necessary to spoon-feed everything to the viewers?

It reminded me of a lot of movies and yet nothing at all. Maybe Bresson's Mouchette or the recent Manchester By The Sea or maybe a more Tarkovsky-esque chilly poetic touch albeit more straight forward and uncompromising?

The film ends itself unapologetically in an abrupt manner which flys in the face of conventional filmmaking where everything needs some degree of resolution. It doesn't leave anything open to interpretation either which I found superbly brilliant. It's effective. It isn't exploitative of its main characters which is quietly powerful too. A movie experience akin to something impossible to answer: What makes us human? When do many grains of sand become a pile of sand?

It leaves you perhaps with the same emotions the characters feel like with some semblance of a solution. A textbook slow-burn movie. Not for the average movie-goer.

The 5 stars I've given this film are very much about everything EXCEPT the plot which is sketchy to say the least. Might be a good future movie there once the full story is completed.

Would be a huge understatement. The direction is subtle beyond probably everything. Also the writing. This work is nuanced, easy and informative even as it withholds what we thought we needed to know and came to realize we knew something else instead. It's very good and you won't really know that til after you've seen it.

In much the same way that this review nuanced, easy and informative even as it withholds what you thought you needed to know and came to realize you knew something else instead. It's very good and you won't really know that til after you've seen the film and then read the review.

This could have been a 7 or 8 star movie with realistic dialogue, meaning at least trying to simulate normal conversations. The lack of talking seems contrived to create atmosphere. Forced minimalism, in other words.

One unexplained scene could have been a set accident merged into the plot.

In general, movie speech tends to be more stilted and measured than real life, but it becomes hard to watch when subdued to this degree. Save the silent parts for alone times where they belong.

But it's got nice scenery, as others have noted.

I expected nothing when I turned on this movie, except a decent story. And it didn't even have that. Man, this was a chore to sit through. I couldn't even get in to the character of Jack (the male protagonist) to empathize with his pain. If I'm not feeling what a character is feeling, then the story has failed its duty. Even though the actor was solid in expressing inner turmoil, I just couldn't get in to Jack's shoes to understand where he is coming from, and what's he regretting or is traumatised about. It pretty much felt superficial to me. Only, if there was more of a reason to care for Jack, other than him being an aimless mumbo-dumbo without much depth to his character, I'd have rated the film much higher.

The female protagonist, Grace, is also a blank slate of a character who, coupled with Jack, has nothing much to do until way into an hour or so. The sexual tension between Grace and Jack, when they first meet, is released so quick, random and abrupt, that I started laughing my butt off. The only redeeming things from this would be the excellent camerawork, solid sound design, and a bravura central performance by Keiran Charnock. Other than that, this film only adds to the countless forgotten films of our world that only tell pretentious and surface level stories, with long and extended shots where nothing happens visually, narratively or thematically.

Character creation is quite effective in the early part of the movie, and I wanted to know what was going to happen to these people. However my interest was squandered by long, s-l-o-w scenes, some of them apparently quite pointless. There is little to sustain interest or sympathy with the protagonists. And the editor should have gone snip! snip! at just about every point. I finally found the way to watch the movie, which was with the fast-forward on. There's not much dialogue, so you're not missing much. The male character is an unattractive young man, and the female lead is too old and too good looking for her part. As you'll gather, I didn't like it and can't recommend it. Not a competently made movie.

Dustin Feneley's Stray is a slow-burning masterpiece, one of those rare delights where I was fully absorbed into the story. Seeing it on the big screen, as well as at home on Blu-ray, I cannot help but be amazed by the direction, cinematography, locations and acting. Kieran Charnock's performance as Jack is stunning. Introspective, harrowing and often heart-breaking, he is mesmerizing. Whilst the film is not action packed, or packed to the brim with dialogue and plot, Stray is a gorgeous look into the life of two damaged people on their quest for self-acceptance.

The negative user reviews on this site do not do this film justice. It is brilliant.

I expected nothing when I turned on this movie, except a decent story. And it didn't even have that. Man, this was a chore to sit through. I couldn't even get in to the character of Jack (the male protagonist) to empathise with his pain. If I'm not feeling what a character is feeling, then the story has failed its duty. Even though the actor was solid in expressing inner turmoil, I just couldn't get in to Jack's shoes to understand where he is coming from, and what's he regretting or is traumatised about. It pretty much felt superficial to me. Only, if there was more of a reason to care for Jack, other than him being an aimless mumbo-dumbo with much depth to his character, I'd have rated the film much higher.

The female protagonist, Grace, is also a blank slate of a character who, coupled with Jack, has nothing much to do until way into an hour or so. The sexual tension between Grace and Jack, when they first meet, is released so quick, random and abrupt, that I started laughing my butt off. The only redeeming things from this would be the excellent camerawork, solid sound design, and a bravura central performance by Keiran Charnock. Other than that, this film only adds to the countless forgotten films of our world that only tell pretentious and surface level stories, with long and extended shots where nothing happens visually, narratively or thematically.

This is an amazing film made by a young film maker. A must see for all ages!!

This film is so slow, if it were shown in Gore, the cinema goers would walk out, preferring instead to watch an oyster grow. It stops and starts with no direction and no meaning, maybe the director was lost in Otagos beauty? , but no chance, nothing beautiful about old houses and pine trees.

The two stars are for the central Otago scenery. Unfortunately the plot and minimilist script gets nothing. Not sure what the movie was trying to achieve but the affect strayed far from realism with its loooong silent pauses and scenes going absolutely nowhere - would have helped if many of them had hit the cutting room floor. The two actors may have been good but this movie does not give them the chance to show it unless spending most of the time standing or sitting staring with no dialogue and a dismal expression counts. I stuck it out until the end hoping something interesting would happen but not to be.

This incredible film was created by a film-maker with a certainty of vision, executed beautifully, and without overdoing the acting and plot, it left me feeling disquieted and edgy - exactly what it was meant to do.

This is a beautiful, art film. Really interesting long takes that slowly reveal the story to us.

This film stayed with me long after viewing. I like films that don't tell the viewer what to think and this was one of them. Both sad and slightly desolate but with hope, joy and quiet optimism. Loved the use of sound, or lack of film score as a choice. Liked it a lot!

An exceptional piece of filmmaking. Really can see such a clear vision in the direction and loved the sense of restraint as well as the spaciousness. The cinematography was incredible too, which is to be expected with Ari!

Deep deeper than you think, deeper than the largest strip mine. Deeper than the ocean, because the ocean isn't really that deep. so deep you'll need a flashlight and batteries. this one hit home.