''Tracks'' is a 2013 Australian

drama film In film and television, drama is a category or genre of narrative fiction (or semi-fiction) intended to be more serious than humorous in tone. Drama of this kind is usually qualified with additional terms that specify its particular super-g ...

directed by John Curran and starring

Mia Wasikowska Mia Wasikowska ( ; born 25 October 1989) is an Australian actress. She made her screen debut on the Australian television drama '' All Saints'' in 2004, followed by her feature film debut in ''Suburban Mayhem'' (2006). She first became known to ...

and

Adam Driver Adam Douglas Driver (born November 19, 1983) is an American actor. He is the recipient of various accolades, including nominations for two Academy Awards, four Primetime Emmy Awards and a Tony Award; making him one of few performers nominated ...

. It is an adaptation of

Robyn Davidson Robyn Davidson (born 6 September 1950) is an Australian writer best known for her 1980 book ''Tracks'', about her 2,700 km (1,700 miles) trek across the deserts of Western Australia using camels. Her career of travelling and writing about ...

's memoir of the same name, chronicling the author's nine-month journey on camels across the Australian desert. It was shown at the

2013 Toronto International Film Festival The 38th annual Toronto International Film Festival (TIFF) took place in Toronto, Ontario, Canada between September 5 and 15, 2013. '' The Fifth Estate'' was selected as the opening film and '' Life of Crime'' was the closing film. 75 films were ...

(Special Presentation) and the

70th Venice International Film Festival The 70th annual Venice International Film Festival took place in Venice, Italy from 28 August to 7 September 2013. American film director William Friedkin was presented with a lifetime achievement award. Italian film director Bernardo Bertolucc ...

2013 (in Official Competition). It premiered in Australia as the opening film at the

Adelaide Film Festival The Adelaide Film Festival (AFF, formerly ADLFF) is film festival usually held for two weeks in mid-October in cinemas in Adelaide, South Australia. Originally presented biennially in March from 2003, since 2013 AFF has been held in October ...

on 10 October 2013. The film has been shown at several other film festivals, including London, Vancouver, Telluride, Dubai, Sydney OpenAir, Dublin and Glasgow.

Premise

In 1977,

travels from

Alice Springs Alice Springs ( aer, Mparntwe) is the third-largest town in the Northern Territory of Australia. Known as Stuart until 31 August 1933, the name Alice Springs was given by surveyor William Whitfield Mills after Alice, Lady Todd (''née'' Al ...

across of Australian deserts to the

Indian Ocean The Indian Ocean is the third-largest of the world's five oceanic divisions, covering or ~19.8% of the water on Earth's surface. It is bounded by Asia to the north, Africa to the west and Australia to the east. To the south it is bounded by th ...

with her dog and four dromedary camels.

National Geographic ''National Geographic'' (formerly the ''National Geographic Magazine'', sometimes branded as NAT GEO) is a popular American monthly magazine published by National Geographic Partners. Known for its photojournalism, it is one of the most widely ...

photographer

Rick Smolan Rick Smolan (born November 5, 1949) is a former ''Time'', ''Life'', and ''National Geographic'' photographer best known as the co-creator of the ''Day in the Life'' book series. He is currently CEO of Against All Odds Productions, a cross-medi ...

documents her journey.

Cast

Lily Pearl ''Lilium'' () is a genus of herbaceous flowering plants growing from bulbs, all with large prominent flowers. They are the true lilies. Lilies are a group of flowering plants which are important in culture and literature in much of the world. ...

as young

* Roly Mintuma as Mr Eddy *

Brendan Maclean Brendan Maclean is an Australian singer-songwriter and actor. Music Brendan Maclean's debut EP, ''White Canvas'', was uploaded to iTunes March 2010. In January 2014 he released a second EP, ''Population'', produced by Paul Mac. The lead singl ...

as Peter *

Rainer Bock Rainer may refer to: People * Rainer (surname) * Rainer (given name) Other * Rainer Island, an island in Franz Josef Land, Russia * 16802 Rainer, an asteroid * Rainer Foundation, British charitable organisation See also * Rainier (disambiguation ...

as Kurt *

Jessica Tovey Jessica Tovey (born 10 November 1987) is an Australian actress. Tovey graduated from the Newtown High School of the Performing Arts and has made appearances for various drama companies. She is best known for her role of Belle Taylor on the long ...

as Jenny * Emma Booth as Marg

Production

There were five attempts in the early 1980s and 1990s to adapt the book as a film. In 1993,

Julia Roberts Julia Fiona Roberts (born October 28, 1967) is an American actress. Known for her leading roles in films encompassing a variety of genres, she has received multiple accolades, including an Academy Award, a British Academy Film Award, and thr ...

was attached to star in a planned

Caravan Pictures Caravan Pictures, Inc. was an American film production company at Walt Disney Studios, formed by Roger Birnbaum and Joe Roth. Caravan's films were distributed by Buena Vista Pictures Distribution. While Disney would sign directors and talent ...

adaptation. The project eventually fell apart. In May 2012, it was reported that Mia Wasikowska would play Robyn Davidson in a John Curran-directed adaptation. In August, Adam Driver was cast as Rick Smolan. The screenplay was written by Marion Nelson. Finance was sourced from

Screen Australia Screen Australia is the Australian Federal Government's key funding body for the Australian screen production industry, created under the ''Screen Australia Act 2008''. From 1 July 2008 Screen Australia took over the functions of its predecess ...

, the South Australian Film Corporation,

, Deluxe Australia, pre-sales, and Canada's Aver Media Finance. With a US$12 million budget, the film began shooting on 8 October 2012. It was filmed in

South Australia South Australia (commonly abbreviated as SA) is a state in the southern central part of Australia. It covers some of the most arid parts of the country. With a total land area of , it is the fourth-largest of Australia's states and territories ...

and the

Northern Territory The Northern Territory (commonly abbreviated as NT; formally the Northern Territory of Australia) is an states and territories of Australia, Australian territory in the central and central northern regions of Australia. The Northern Territory ...

. Julie Ryan was a co-producer. ''Tracks'' was released to

DVD The DVD (common abbreviation for Digital Video Disc or Digital Versatile Disc) is a digital optical disc data storage format. It was invented and developed in 1995 and first released on November 1, 1996, in Japan. The medium can store any kind ...

and

Blu-ray The Blu-ray Disc (BD), often known simply as Blu-ray, is a digital optical disc data storage format. It was invented and developed in 2005 and released on June 20, 2006 worldwide. It is designed to supersede the DVD format, and capable of sto ...

on 25 June 2014.

Reception

Critical response

''Tracks'' received mainly positive reviews from critics.

Review aggregator A review aggregator is a system that collects reviews of products and services (such as films, books, video games, software, hardware, and cars). This system stores the reviews and uses them for purposes such as supporting a website where users ...

website

Rotten Tomatoes Rotten Tomatoes is an American review-aggregation website for film and television. The company was launched in August 1998 by three undergraduate students at the University of California, Berkeley: Senh Duong, Patrick Y. Lee, and Stephen Wang ...

gives the film a score of 82% based on 129 reviews with an average score of 7/10. The critical consensus states, "What ''Tracks'' lacks in excitement, it more than makes up with gorgeous cinematography and Mia Wasikowska's outstanding performance." The film also has a score of 78 out of 100 on

Metacritic Metacritic is a website that review aggregator, aggregates reviews of films, TV shows, music albums, video games and formerly, books. For each product, the scores from each review are averaged (a weighted arithmetic mean, weighted average). M ...

based on 34 critics, indicating "generally favorable reviews".

Leonard Maltin Leonard Michael Maltin (born December 18, 1950) is an American film critic and film historian, as well as an author of several mainstream books on cinema, focusing on nostalgic, celebratory narratives. He is perhaps best known for his book of fil ...

gave ''Tracks'' 3.5 out of 4 stars, and has stated that it is the last movie (by wide release date) that will be included in the final edition of ''

Leonard Maltin's Movie Guide ''Leonard Maltin's Movie Guide'' was a book-format collection of movie capsule reviews that began in 1969, was updated biannually after 1978, and then annually after 1986. The final edition was published in September 2014. It was originally calle ...

''. ''Word and Film'' rated ''Tracks'' as the best film adaptation of the year for 2014, and Sydney Arts Guide awarded Marion Nelson the Best Adapted Screenplay Award 2014. Mandy Walker won 2014 Best Cinematography awards for ''Tracks'' from the Australian Cinematographers Society and the Film Critics Circle of Australia.

Box office

''Tracks'' received a

limited theatrical release __FORCETOC__ Limited theatrical release is a film distribution strategy of releasing a new film in a few theaters across a country, typically art house theaters in major metropolitan markets. Since 1994, a limited theatrical release in the Unite ...

in North America opening in four theatres and grossing $21,544, with an average of $5,386 per theatre and ranking #62 at the box office. The widest release for the film was 67 theatres, and it ultimately earned $510,007 in North America and $4,368,235 internationally, a total of $5,853,509.Tracks
(Box Office Mojo)

Accolades

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Tracks 2013 films 2010s adventure drama films 2013 biographical drama films Australian adventure drama films Australian biographical drama films Films set in deserts Films set in Australia Films shot in Flinders Ranges Films directed by John Curran Films set in 1977 2013 drama films Films based on autobiographies 2010s English-language films Screen Australia films See-Saw Films films Transmission Films films