The Dry - Lügen der Vergangenheit

A very good, old-fashioned detective story with a strong dramatic foundation and slow revealing of facts in both cases. Arid Australia, just one discarded cigarette butt away from a destructing fire, captivating music, great cast with a precise Bana, dead calves lying around on trucks and unclear culprits almost till the very end. Nice, slow investigations hardly ever get to be filmed and that’s a big shame. (11.09.2021)

A crime drama without murders is like a brothel without whores – this is no Se7en. The Dry is a relatively well-directed and well-acted drama (there are sadly very few crime elements), without any proper investigation or gathering of evidence. The two hours drag on like a leaky faucet, nothing interesting, innovative, or refreshing happens, and personally, I have no desire to waste time on something like this. The ending is relatively decent and the music is noteworthy, but that extremely unengaging slow pace is lethal. 4/10. (02.04.2021)

A nicely civil detective story with a hero who surprisingly doesn't fight, shoot, or make cool jokes, and yet for two hours the viewer is quite entertained by a solid plot, good actors, and a decent script. A smart crime drama with an easy-to-grasp plot premise where someone has done something in an unassuming small town and an uninvited guest in the form of Eric Bana must find out who, what, how among the old-timers – something like Prisoners, mixed Hell or High Water. Similarly grounded and relatively raw, but unlike the two aforementioned hits, here the individual props and directorial handwriting are not quite up to scratch. (16.09.2021)