Blueback – A Well-Intentioned Film That Gets Lost in its Message

Based on the short novel of the same name, Blueback is a story that wants audiences to think about the oceans and to want to preserve them for people to enjoy in the future and so the sea animals within them can survive for years to come. The film is centered around Abby Jackson (Wasikowaska as an adult and Ilsa Fogg as a teenager) and her mother Dora (Liz Alexander in older age and Mitchell as her younger self) who live in Australia and are passionate marine life activists. Filled with beautiful cinematography, the film’s message was clear: to treat the oceans and the surrounding areas with respect so that future generations can enjoy them. That being said, while the passion from the cast and crew is clear, the execution of the film is ultimately let down by an unengaging screenplay, flat characters, and dreadful pacing.

The story saw an adult Abby studying marine habitats in Australia when she receives a call that her mother has had a stroke. She then travels back to a mother who hasn’t spoken a word since awakening. The rest of the film jumps between the past and the present as Abby tries to get her mother to speak again. The past goes from a young Abby meeting a grouper to her as a teenager where she and Dora were devoted to looking after the nearby marine life and protecting it from poachers. The underlying message of the story shouldn’t come as much of a surprise to anyone. At its core, it is about a mother and daughter trying to reconnect. Though it works on paper, as Abby tries to recall memories for Dora after her stroke and the film takes audiences to those moments, the end result is two storylines that don’t quite fit together. In the end, the past was so prominent in the story that it was easy to forget there was even another storyline, and whenever the film does go back to the present, audiences will be left longing to be back in the past where it was only mildly more interesting. 

Alongside the messy execution, perhaps the film would’ve worked better had it had a better script and characters. Abby and Dora felt flat and with their environmentalism being their main personality trait. It was very hard for them to stand out or feel like fully realized people thus making it very hard to connect with them on an emotional level. Even if the mother-daughter theme was well-executed, their thin personalities majorly held them back. Once tragedy struck, there was no emotion in response because the audience never gets to truly know the characters outside of the their thin foundation. However, Abby and Dora’s mother-daughter bond, for the most part, was well presented. For two people that were so alike yet so different at the same time, the chemistry between Wasikowaska and Mitchell was clear.

In spite of its many flaws, if anything, Blueback is a beautiful watch. Even with its overbearing music, the underwater cinematography is gorgeous to look at and will make one want to go for a dive to experience the ocean. Meanwhile, in terms of performances, the cast tries to make the best out of the script but a lot of the dialog comes off as awkward and flat. Wasikowska is good as Abby, but she is not given a lot of material as most of the film focuses on her younger self. Fogg, as the younger Abby, tries her best but is given dialogue that feels unnatural and flat.

The filmmakers behind Blueback have good intentions as their passion for environmentalism and marine life seeps through. Unfortunately, they also let their message overtake every other aspect of the film, leaving awkward line deliveries, flat and non-compelling characters, resulting in a dull watch. The balance between the past and the present never fully works, preventing audiences from ever truly getting sucked into the film’s world or characters and wondering why they should even care about them at all. Though the passion and heart that went into the film is clear, it never translates to what occurs on screen.

still courtesy of Quiver Distribution

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Jasmine Graham