Best movie of this year hands down!

Great Film overall

Simple and well acted, it has tension enough to knot the stomach.

It is an exhilarating, distressing, funny and profound film, with one of the more memorable film scores in years,

This film was Brad McGann's debut feature as director, and sadly, as it turned out, his last. The screenplay by McGann uses Maurice Gee's 1972 novel as a starting point but goes off in a different direction. In the book we are aware at the outset that a girl has been found murdered and that her sympathetic teacher is under suspicion. In the film the possibility of a crime does not arise until half-way through. In the book "father" the owner of the den was a nice elderly man who had died many years previously. In the film he has just died, and turns out to have been a lot less nice. In the book Andrew the stitched up pious brother turns out to be a very dangerous person, in the film he is not much more than a fall guy. The book has Paul (Matthew MacFadyen), the principal character as an unknown schoolteacher in an outer suburban school; the film has him as a minor celebrity returning to the scenic rural home of his youth. In both stories, however, he becomes involved with one of his pupils, Celia (Emma Barclay).Does any of this matter to the film's entertainment value? Well, the film is beautifully photographed, and wonderfully acted, yet it ultimately fails to make any sense of the events depicted. Maurice Gee on the other hand explores the dark recesses of his character's minds and his readers get to understand why things have happened the way they have. Character-based thrillers are tricky; there is a trade-off between action and insight. Here we have some interesting characters who somehow have got lost in the plot – a mistake not made in Ray Lawrence's "Lantana" for example, although "Jindabyne" ran close to the edge.At the end of the film there is a complete stuff-up – the final scene should been the second to last scene. The director did it on purpose, according to the DVD commentary, through a reluctance to bump off his favorite character.This film was Emma Barclay's first. She has gone on to a real triumph in "Suburban Mayhem" but you can see the talent here already. Matthew MacFadyen as Paul was doing his first feature too, though he has had considerable TV experience ("Spooks"). His English accent is a bit out of place in the land of the long lost vowel but the moodiness is right on. Miranda Otto as Andrew's distracted wife was like a sleepwalker but that was what the part requires. Colin Moy as Andrew was very impressive – his animus towards Paul was palpable even before he opened his mouth.Maurice Gee set his novel in semi-suburban West Auckland in the late sixties and the film-makers have used present-day Central Otago, mostly in and around Alexandra, as their setting. This is fair enough, and Central Otago is a very photogenic part of NZ, but it does tend to overplay the return of the prodigal element. Again, Maurice Gee makes it clear that the semi-rural past that Paul grew up in has well and truly gone, but in the film it seems not to have changed at all.If I were Maurice Gee I would be in two minds about this film. On the one hand the filmmakers have handled the central story – the relationship between Paul and Celia – very sensitively. On the other hand much of the careful characterization of the novel has been lost, and the "backstory" has been made incoherent. If I hadn't read the novel (which I did before and after seeing the film) I still would be complaining about the ending. But I guess most viewers won't be doing that and will still find this an evocative piece.

One of the most touching films I've seen in a long time, a complicated story that unwinds slowly but powerfully due the the directing and performances of the fine cast. This film really needs to be seen, it's been buried and badly handled in that it's not out there. I had the rare opportunity to see it at a special private screening...almost no one in the USA has seen it at all, in spite of heavy festival play. Emily Barclay who play the young girl and narrates much of the film is an emerging NZ talent in league with Keisha Castle-Hughes. Mathew McFayden gives a multi-layered and complicated performance as a man estranged from the family he left behind as a teenager. The casting is believable for every character and the audience is drawn into the story. Can you hear me Weinstein Brothers-- someone needs to pick this one up and run with it!

I recently purchased this movie from amazon.uk on a recommendation from a friend. It is an amazingly touching and well written film. I was intrigued at seeing Matthew Macfadyen in this role, being a fan of the television show Spooks, and I was not disappointed. He does an amazing job as the emotionally scarred photographer coming back home for the first time in 17 years. I was so touched by the storyline that after the movie was over I couldn't get it out of my head. I had to watch it again. I love all the interpersonal relationships, and the detail we are shown for all of them.If you can find this movie anywhere, I say rent it or buy it. It may not be an action adventure, but it will move you more than bombs and car chases ever could.

and i'm not saying this because i'm a Kiwi.. any person who appreciates movies will love and rate this movie.. it has one of the best story lines ever, and the cast is world class.. this story could have taken place anywhere, but as it turned out, rural Central Otago was chosen for filming, and this movie features superb panoramas of the one of the most beautiful places in the world..In My Father's Den seems to lead the audience in one direction in that for most of the film, Emily Barclay's character seems to be Matthew Macfayden's love-child, but after dramatic turns of events and some clever use of flashbacks integrated within the movie sequence, this seems not the case and as it turns out there is a far darker secret within the family.. ultimately in the end, the past comes back to change the future..if u are ever in NZ you must watch this along with Whale Rider..