Kangaroo Island Review – Breathtaking Cinematography, Excellent Story Driven Performances

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Category: Haute This Issue

Published on Wednesday, 22 April 2026 06:32

Written by Janet Walker

Kangaroo Island, from Blue Harbor Entertainment, presents a captivating and engrossing modern drama about love, life, decisions, hopes, dreams, and despair, as an estranged actress returns to her home to face the past and embrace the future.

The film begins in Los Angeles. We meet Lou, played by Rebecca Breeds, waking up in a strangers bed, sneaking out, and riding the bus to her ex-boyfriends house, where she is couch-surfing. When he arrives, he explains, her dad sent her a ticket home, to Australia, and it's time for you to move out. She is adamant she is not going home. She has a big meeting with her agent and expect the offers to reverse this downward spiral.

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She meets with her agent, who ever so sweetly, with the sting of a viper, explains, "we're just not excited about you" and we're dropping you. She is so angry she pulls off the side of the freeway and lights up a joint. She tries to hook up another place to stay, but even when you were once something in LA, when you're not, you're rot. She seems to be the only person who can't see she needs a break. The LAPD pull up behind her. Her registration is expired, she has no driver's license, and the only identification she has is the ticket and her Australian passport. So, the officer offers to drive her to the airport.

Even when she is at the airport, she is still fighting fate, and she calls her ex who sends her a guest pass to the lounge. She ends up drinking with fans of the daytime drama she starred in, and they keep ordering and she keeps drinking. She wakes up on the plane, realizing she slept for nearly thirty hours.   

Once she get home, it is hard to understand why she left. And through flashback, we understand, ten years before, she, her sister Freya, played by Adelaide Clemens, and their lifelong friend, Toddie, played by Lewis Henbest, were surfing when they meet Ben, played by Joel Jackson. This is when we find out that Ben and Lou, had been in love. However, this love wasn't enough to stop her from trying.

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Now, after her initial years of success, she is broke, and broken, not simply from the challenges of her career choice, but life.

When they arrive home, to South Australia's ruggedly beautiful Kangaroo Island, we see the property is ocean front, with private beach access, a house on the cliffs, and even while we understand the value, it feels homey. There is an earthiness to the lifestyle, the surf boards, and swim gear are hanging on the outside line, the cords of wood are stacked, not even neatly, by the side of the house, and the view, is ocean until it meets the horizon.

Once the family is together, we also meet her dad, Rory, played by Erik Thomson, Auntie Rose, played by Julie Wood, and Freia and Ben's two children. The first night at dinner, Rory explains he has made some changes in his estate planning, and the entire property he is passing to Freia, which is a shock to Lou, and sets her off to right this horrible wrong. On night two, at dinner, we understand his decisions are based on his recent medical diagnosis, and his end of life decisions, which shocks Freia, and set her off to stop him immediately.

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This dramatic family event sets off a chain of events and ushers in the climatic third act, when life decisions, once cloudy become crystalized, and decisions which were on a collision course from the beginning finally derail.  

Kangaroo Island is worth the escape to the theater, it is entertaining, well-acted, and for those who have not traveled to the land down under, it is packed full of inspiring nature, and magnificent scenery.

The cinematography is stunning. From the moment we arrive on Kangaroo Island, with all its inhabitants, it is akin to a trip to a far and distant land. For those who have never visited Australia, especially the Southern coastline, the camerawork is a real treat. All that tourists expect, plenty of kangaroos, koalas bears, and the crystal blue waters of the shoreline, breaking waves, small pipelines, dolphins, and all types of birds and also sharks captured in shallow waters and mirroring shadows, and of course, huge snakes. The coastline is breathtaking.

The ensemble cast delivers dramatic story driven performances, with layers of backstory, told through flashbacks, that fold itself into the dynamics, informing the performances before we, the audience, understand the emotional responses being played out.

Kangaroo Island, first released in Australia, became a breakout hit, with more than 100 days at the box office, and continued its domination when it premiered on Netflix where it remained in the top 10 on Netflix Australia for three consecutive weeks.

Engrossing, mesmerizing, Kangaroo Island opens in select markets April 24, 2026. It is a must see.

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Country: Australia.

Language: English.

Runtime: 109 minutes.

Director: Timothy David

Producer: Peter Hanlon, Timothy David, Bettina Hamilton, Daniel Rosenberg, Leona Cichon.

Executive Producer: Steve Callen, Ben de Guzman, John Hood.

Cinematographer: Ian McCarroll.

Writer: Sally Gifford.

Cast: Rebecca Breeds, Adelaide Clemens, Erik Thomson, Joel Jackson, Nicholas Hope, Lewis Henbest, Thibul Nettle, Lauren Koopowitz, Simone Annan, Glenn McMillan, Glenda Linscott, Chris Asimos, Samantha Hughes, Sally Gifford, Rachel Hornelt, Stephen Tongun, Madeleine Herd.

Janet Walker is the publisher, founder, and sole owner of Haute-Lifestyle.com. A graduate of New York University, she has been covering international news through the Beltway Insider, a weekly review of the nation's top stories, for more than a decade.  A general beat writer/reporter and entertainment/film critic, she is also an accomplished news/investigative news/crime reporter and submitted for Pulitzer Prize consideration "Cops Conspire to Deep Six Sex Assaults" in the Breaking News Category and was persuaded to withdraw the submission. Ms. Walker has completed five screenplays "The Six Sides of Truth," "The Assassins of Fifth Avenue," "The Wednesday Killer," "The Manhattan Project," and the sci-fi thriller "Project 13: The Last Day." She has also published "Unholy Alliances: A True Crime Story," and "Days, Times, Seasons, and Events: A Collection of Poetry & Prose," which can be purchased here. She is a member of the Los Angeles Press Club, the National Writers Union, and a member of the International Federation of Journalists.