I don't know what everyone else was watching, but this was very boring. Choosing to do a character study of an irredeemable human is a strange choice; he is totally unlikable and nobody that was around that type of individual would be surprised that he shoots up a place.

A subtle and disturbing character examination. Kurzel is not engaging in cheap sensationalism (evidenced by the fact that the Port Arthur massacre, while acknowledged by the movie, is not openly portrayed beyond its beginning) and while the movie's entire focus is on the perpetrator rather than the victims I think that is a legitimate choice as one can plainly see the repeated patterns in these cases that are too often ignored by authorities.

There is nothing new in Kurzam's film, which attempts to approach the figure of the monster with a certain empathy. A monster lacking in love, with a castrating mother and condemned to ostracism by a society that rejects what is different. The underlying discussion is the same as always: whether or not to limit access to weapons, and how to guarantee a balance between individual and collective freedom.

After a slow start, Nitram begins to find its feet when the lead (played by Caleb Landry-Jones) actor meets reclusive and eccentric heiress Helen (Essie Davis) in her grand house squalor. It's then we see more of the disturbed personality of the main character, played well, but not brilliantly. After Helen's death, an opportunity (though a fiction element) to target the car dealer is not realised. The sound on the movie should be improved, there is a lot of mumbling with poor miking, and too much background noise at times. The reason the character targets Port Arthur is also not revealed. Thankfully, Nitram's descent that culminates in the most heinous of acts in modern Australia stops short of the final nightmare scenes, The credits audio is unremarkable. Better audio and a better soundtrack would have helped the film. The film makes a good case to restore the death penalty in Australia. The real Nitram deserves nothing less.

I've heard of this because I saw various reviews that said it did a good job in telling a horrific story without glorifying the perpetrator - even so, I have to admit the phrase "too soon?" did cross my mind (although Wikipedia surprised me by telling me the "incident" happened in '96). And, woah - The Guardian isn't wrong when it says it's deeply disturbing. Nitram (Caleb Landry Jones) is in his early twenties and he really isn't a happy boy - he obviously has learning and anger issues and his anti-social behaviour is a major source of stress for his parents (Anthony LaPaglia and Judy Davis). But - a ray of hope appears in the very peculiar shape of Helen (Essie Davis) a rich heiress in her fifties who strikes up an unconventional friendship with Nitram, accepting him for who he is (which is good) whilst also pandering to his whims (maybe not so good). And I think that's probably enough to tell you, but it's fair to say that things don't end well - the sense of dread ratchets up "nicely" as the film approaches the end. Caleb Landry Jones portrays Nitram and his troubles well - he has a very unsettling manner whilst still managing to generate some sympathy for the character. Judy Davis is also excellent as his mother - she's an extremely buttoned-up character who does love her son, but she doesn't like him and worries about what he might do. Anthony LaPaglia (I was trying to remember what I'd seen him in and had to check - he's very good in Murder One and Lantana, but sadly the role I remember him for most was Daphne's super annoying brother in Frasier with his TERRIBLE accent) has less to do as his father but manages to portray a slightly different style of parental concern (more hope than anything else). The only other person who has a meaningful role in the film is Essie Davis and in a lot of ways she has an even more tenuous connection to reality than Nitram, so she's quite an odd character but it's an effective portrayal. The films users several interesting style of filming - it uses light, colour and sound very well to portray Nitram's confusion in particular. It also does something very weird with the general style inside Helen's house - it's very fuzzy and almost like infra-red film at times. There is also, of course, some absolutely gorgeous scenery involved - they have a lot of it down there. It's an interesting tale although the film does suffers from the fact that you know things aren't going to end well - with quite a few of the scenes obviously signposting future trouble. It does also somewhat descend into horrific madness, but I guess that comes with the territory and it's hard to know what else they could have done. A lot of it is actually pretty unbelievable, but if you look up the actual story it's considerably weirder - for example, when Martin Bryant first met Helen Harvey she was living with 40 cats, 16 dogs and her mother, who stayed in bed for two years with a fractured hip, whereas in the film it's just the one cat, about seven dogs and no mother. I'd say the adaptation is well done but I can completely understand those who argued that it was totally unnecessary - it doesn't add anything to the story but, to their credit, neither does it sensationalise it. Hmmm - it's hard to know quite how to sum up my feelings on the film. It made me feel very uncomfortable at times but, taken at face value, I'd say it's a "good" film and it tells an interesting story. However, whilst I don't side with those who think it's totally unnecessary - I'd struggle to say it's really necessary either. Yes, the story is handled sensitively enough but given that it specifically makes the point that Martin Bryant was interested in coverage of Dunblane, it's hard to see what justification they can make for this film. All in all, an interesting one - which is available to stream on BFIPlayer and rent in all the usual locations.

You call him a killer and a monster. However, the real monstrosity is the system that keeps failing people again and again. Loneliness and alienation till breaking point. A person, with hopes and desires to belong, a person who could not find an understanding with his own parents, a person trapped forever in his head, knowing that he's different and he is not connected to anything or anyone. It is enormously heart breaking and although the tragedy of the victims is unspeakable, it is the system and the society that failed. You produced a world full of not very smart people, where freedom allows you to have lot of babies, to buy a gun, or buy a kidney if you have enough of money. You have a world full of conditioned products, who works 9-18 and only sometimes dream of something better. When they realised that they have been chasing carrots all along, they break. It's a sad, sad world, where the victim, failed by absolutely everyone and everything is called a murderer. The real killer remains somehow still hidden.

Absolutely brilliant. Film's pretty simple when you keep it that way.

Overall, Nitram isn't an easy story to tell, and it's also not an easy watch either. That being said, there are many positive elements within this Australian film. It's gripping and unsettling, filled with tremendous performances, especially from Caleb Landry Jones. There is a powerful message behind the true story, and the portrayal of the topic of firearms made me respect all that is displayed here. Pacing, for the most part, is great. Still, I can't deny that elements such as questionable editing and the film's general runtime were distracting or noticeable to me.

Caleb Landry Jones is a revelation at the titular character and the film is a fascinating journey that highlights mental illness and it certainly makes you ask a lot of questions. Based on a true story, the film is effective in portraying what happens when someone goes off his medications. However then you wonder if it's the parents (Judy Davis and Anthony LaPaglia) who are trying to control their child. It is a very well-told drama that borders on horror. At times, it is freakingly chilling. Final Score: 8.7/10

ok but dumb good acting but a lot of dead time

Caleb Jones was very good in this … dude plays a creep very well

Judy Davis presented some of the best acting out there. Period. Also, This film carries on and really gets deep on current issues. Really appreciated that. Just a very interesting film.

Fantastic acting performances and a tragic true story ground Nitram and make it hard to look away and hard to imagine. This film will assuredly hit Australians especially hard and I'd hope no one close to the situation will watch it. It is a dark character study, and a well done one at that. The film showing Nitram's (based on Martin Bryant who committed a mass shooting in 1996 in Tasmania, AU) inspiration from the Dublane mass shooting in the UK begs the question of what role does media (including this movie) play in inspiring violence, and I think this movie balances that dichotomy well despite it existing.

I tried not to Google the story since it was based on a true event. Disturbing and yet the issues becoming more commonplace. Very well acted. Once I read about the story it was based on, I gave it 5 stars due to the director and writers' thoughtful and poignant portrayal of the events.

Psychopath millennial, unlikeable in every possible way, rampages through life satisfying his inner rage and macabre sense of humor about other people's pain. This guy doesn't forget a wrong but also doesn't necessarily take it out on the offender but instead finds himself some ripe, innocent victims to satisfy his blood lust. A walking, (barely) talking menace who in the old days was referred to as 'slow' in addition to some other names that aren't quite so politically correct. Caleb Landry Jones executed a depth charge into the terrifying depths of his dark side in order to pull off this unthinkably sinister bully of a character. And Judy Davis was, as always, absolutely stunning. I, for one, hang on her every word. She's also got a way of staring into space that contains worlds of meaning.

A subtle and disturbing character examination. Kurzel is not engaging in cheap sensationalism (evidenced by the fact that the Port Arthur massacre, while acknowledged by the movie, is not openly portrayed beyond its beginning) and while the movie's entire focus is on the perpetrator rather than the victims I think that is a legitimate choice as one can plainly see the repeated patterns in these cases that are too often ignored by authorities.

Yeah, this is better than CATS.

Justin Kurzel's Nitram is one of the most unpleasant movies that I have seen in a good while, equal parts creepy, grungy and unsettling and yet . . , I am recommending it. It is apparently all-too-easy to fashion together a movie about a disturbed youth who frustrates his parents, school officials, law enforcement, innocent bystanders and society in general but it takes a certain level of skill to make it work. What you sense in this movie is a story that feels real, so the fact that it's based on a true story doesn't actually matter. It works just as well as fiction. The forward news about Nitram is that it is apparently based on a true event: the 1996 massacre at Port Arthur in Tasmania, Australia. Again, this information does not change my assessment of the film because I could have just as easily have watched a fictional narrative that would have been just as strong. At any rate, the film goes deeper into the psychology of a killer than just the anatomy of events – it is a dissection of who he is before that crime. Caleb Landry Jones is very good as Nitram, an intellectually disturbed young man who lives with his parents at Port Arthur and is, to say the least, problematic. Having given up any prospect of life as a means to support himself, he seems to wander through life, sometimes as an irritant to his parents, neighbors and everyone else and sometimes just as a young man who seems to be taking up space. Breaking the monotony of simply existing, he irritates those around him (particularly the neighbors) by setting off fireworks in the middle of the day and later attempting to sell them to school children. His social skills are almost Nitram (Martin spelled backwards) has, we gather, has always been a problem. We can see it in his eyes and most abundantly in the eyes of his frustrated parents. His heartbroken father (Anthony LaPaglia) is trying to pull the family out of a financial stupor by buying a bed and breakfast. His mother (Judy Davis) has retreated from her son, weary at his shenanigans, she chain-smokes and seems to wonder where it all went wrong. Her face is a stone mask – she's seen it all before. This is a kid that will never change, and worse, she'll never get rid of. But things look promising when he befriends Helen (Essie Davis) a lost soul who takes him in. Once, she was an actress but the cruel maze of life has left her in a state of melancholy brought on by long periods of crushing loneliness. Perhaps for her own reasons, she buys Nitram and car despite the fact that he does not have a license and clearly has no business behind the wheel. This lands as a shock to his parents. Why is she doing this? We've met her and we have a cursory reason to suspect why. Well, spoiler alert, the fate of this woman and also of his father's business venture do not go well and it only goes to further push Nitram into a mental corner. Nothing good happens. We know where the movie is going based on the true facts but it's not the destination, it's the journey. To my own surprise, I felt a measure of pity for Nitram despite his destructive nature. I felt for his long-suffering parents, and I felt for Helen. This is a disturbed young man who needs help very badly and doesn't get it. His story is unsettling because he isn't getting the help that he needs, not for the crime that he commits.

The performances are picture perfect all around. It's delightful to see actors enjoying their craft like this. And most of the movie feels very organic. It's too bad the final act feels like a PSA announcement.

Tension from frame one that ultimately boils over into what lead up to the 1996 Port Arthur Massacre in Tasmania. Not enough can be said in regards to the absolute stellar performances by the four lead actors. But it is Caleb Landry-Jones as Nitram (...Martin backwards) & the fantastic Judy Davis that really deliver the gut-punch. Great film. (streaming on AMC+)