''Buckley's Chance'' is a 2021 Australian/Canadian

international co-production A co-production is a joint venture between two or more different production companies for the purpose of film production, television production, video game development, and so on. In the case of an international co-production, production companies ...

film about a 14-year old boy relocating with his mother to his grandfather's farm in Western Australia following his father's death, and who goes missing as a result of foul-play. The film is directed by Tim Brown who also co-wrote the film with Willem Wennekers. The film's cast includes Milan Burch,

Bill Nighy William Francis Nighy (; born 12 December 1949) is an English actor. Nighy started his career with the Everyman Theatre, Liverpool and made his London debut with the Royal National Theatre starting with ''The Illuminatus! Trilogy, The Illuminatu ...

Victoria Hill Victoria Hill (born 18 February 1971 in Adelaide) is an Australian actress, writer and producer. She is now based between Los Angeles, New York City and Sydney. Early life and career Victoria Hill is the daughter of Robert Hill, a former ...

Martin Sacks Martin Colin Sacks (born 16 October 1959) is an Australian actor who is chiefly known for his 12-year role on ''Blue Heelers'' from 1993 to 2005. Life and career Sacks was born in Sydney. He got into acting after a bit part in an episode of ' ...

, Julia Billington, Ben Wood,

Kelton Pell Kelton Pell is an Aboriginal Australian (Noongar) stage, TV and film actor, best known for his role as the court liaison officer, Sam Wallan, in the SBS legal drama '' The Circuit'' set in north-western Australia. Pell is from Western Australia. ...

, and Anthony Gooley. It was released to Australian cinemas on 24 June 2021, distributed by

Transmission Films Transmission Films is an Australian and New Zealand film distribution company based in Sydney, Australia and Auckland, New Zealand founded in 2008 by Richard Payten and Andrew Mackie. History Transmission Films was founded in 2008 by Richard Pa ...

Summary

Two New Yorkers, 14-year-old Ridley (Burch) and his mother Gloria (Hill) travel to Australia to spend time with Gloria's estranged father-in-law Spencer (Nighy) on his remote

Western Australian Western Australia (commonly abbreviated as WA) is a state of Australia occupying the western percent of the land area of Australia excluding external territories. It is bounded by the Indian Ocean to the north and west, the Southern Ocean to th ...

property "Buckley's Chance" (named after William Buckley), following the death of Gloria's firefighter husband in the United States. Conflict arises between Ridley and his grandfather during Spencer's attempts at connecting with his grandson who always carries a

camcorder A camcorder is a self-contained portable electronic device with video and recording as its primary function. It is typically equipped with an articulating screen mounted on the left side, a belt to facilitate holding on the right side, hot-swa ...

, a gift from his late father. During a camping trip, Ridley storms off and comes across a wild

dingo The dingo (''Canis familiaris'', ''Canis familiaris dingo'', ''Canis dingo'', or ''Canis lupus dingo'') is an ancient (Basal (phylogenetics), basal) lineage of dog found in Australia (continent), Australia. Its taxonomic classification is de ...

trapped in barbed wire fencing which he rescues. Meanwhile, Spencer is being intimidated by three locals, Cooper, Mick and Oscar (Sacks, Wood and Gooley) in an attempt to get Spencer to sell "Buckley's Chance". One evening, Ridley stumbles on Mick and Oscar attempting to set fire to Spencer's hay shed and attempts to document this with his camera. Desperate to hide, Ridley jumps under the cover at the back of their ute but can't escape in time and ends up being transported to a location unknown to him. While escaping from Mick and Oscar, Ridley gets lost but is reunited with the dingo he rescued, who he befriends as he attempts to find his way back to "Buckley's Chance" in the harsh conditions of the

Australian outback The Outback is a remote, vast, sparsely populated area of Australia. The Outback is more remote than the bush. While often envisaged as being arid, the Outback regions extend from the northern to southern Australian coastlines and encompass a n ...

. Upon discovering Ridley missing, Spencer and his station manager Jules (Pell) coordinate a search with the local emergency services.

Filming

Although the movie is set in Western Australia, it was actually filmed near

Broken Hill, New South Wales Broken Hill is an inland mining city in the far west of outback New South Wales, Australia. It is near the border with South Australia on the crossing of the Barrier Highway (A32) and the Silver City Highway (B79), in the Barrier Range. It is ...

in 2019.

Reception

Buckley's Chance received mixed reviews, as did Nighy's

Australian accent Australian English (AuE) is a non-rhotic variety of English spoken by most native-born Australians. Phonologically, it is one of the most regionally homogeneous language varieties in the world. Australian English is notable for vowel length contr ...

, and the

New York accent The sound system of New York City English is popularly known as a New York accent. The New York metropolitan accent is one of the most recognizable accents of the United States, largely due to its popular stereotypes and portrayal in radio, ...

s used by Hill and Burch.

References

External links

* 2021 films Australian drama films 2020s English-language films Screen Australia films Canadian drama films Films produced by Gilbert Adler 2020s Canadian films 2020s Australian films {{2020s-Australia-film-stub