The upright art-houser is told in English and Yolngu, with English subtitles, but the message would be clear without any dialogue: Australia is no country for old Aborigine.

| Original Score: 3/4 | Aug 21, 2015

Australia offers few sights as sublime as that of David Gulpilil.

| Original Score: 3/4 | Jul 16, 2015

A series of chapters in noble effort and misadventure alike, all captured with fluid camerawork trained on Gulpilil's every move or his long passages of mesmerizing stillness.

| Original Score: 3/4 | Jun 11, 2015

The film gets some of its power from the fact that Charlie's story tracks pretty closely with that of the actor playing him. But just some of its power.

| Jun 10, 2015

Using a combination of bleak realism, fatalistic humor and a healthy dose of sentimentality, Mr. de Heer traces the downward spiral of a man who has become a refugee in his own homeland.

| Jun 4, 2015

The whole film feels not like a call to arms against Australian policies, so much as a study of life adjacent to them.

| Original Score: 3.5/5 | Jun 4, 2015

Part of the movie's mischievous charm lies in De Heer and cinematographer Ian Jones' sophisticated use of Steadicam, which moves almost exclusively with Charlie, often seemingly in a struggle to keep up with his brisk, determined walk.

| Original Score: B+ | Jun 4, 2015

Equal parts ethnographic and poetic, this eloquent drama's stirring soulfulness is laced with the sorrow of cultural dislocation but also with lovely ripples of humor and even joy.

| Jun 1, 2015

The tangled tale of Aboriginal relations in Australia is rendered richly personal in director Rolf de Heer's 14th dramatic feature, Charlie's Country.

| Jun 1, 2015

It finally offers little more than a moderately engaging slice of contemporary aboriginal life that mostly fails to dig beneath the surface of this underrepresented world.

| Original Score: 2.5/4 | May 31, 2015

Whatever his [Gulpilil] motives, he has given us an unforgettable film, beautifully made, at times unbearably sad, but tinged with an unquenchable optimism and humanity.

| Original Score: 4/5 | Jul 23, 2014

These films are a powerful window on Aboriginal culture, made as a collaboration, rather than by a helicopter director. In every sense, they're a gift to the nation.

| Original Score: 4.5/5 | Jul 17, 2014

It's de Heer's triumph. Most of his films have been about outsiders and this one is the most eloquent of all, a poignant expression of his talents as a filmmaker and his sensitivity and generosity as a human being.

| Original Score: 4/5 | Jul 14, 2014