Geena Davis gives close to a career best performance as the honest, human and sarcastic mother in this Australian film that stars mostly Americans. It’s a curious ploy to broaden the prospective audience and I hope it works for this quality picture, obviously art-house through its avoidance of a soppy ending and unrealistic moments.

Instead this film focuses on the quiet ways people are damaged by and subsequently deal with traumatic events. In an admirable effort to remain always realistic, the exceptionally well-drawn characters are warm but full of faults, as opposed to the highly stylised and moralistically superior things we usually see on movie screens.

There is also refreshingly little underlying karma or sense of meaning — again just like real life. Oh, and the soundtrack is a cracker, featuring contributions from indie songsters Luke Steele, The Middle East and Empire of the Sun.

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We checked in with Luke Steele from Australian duo Empire Of The Sun and asked him about the music that was inspiring him right now. He started with the Holger Czukay song, Persian Love [listen below]: ‘There is so much depth in this track. It’s like the magician chef who can transpose flavors when people’s expressions change during meals. It’s a dream of spices’. Read the rest of Luke Steele’s Secret Playlist.