Film

The Dry

Name: The Dry
Genre: Crime, Thriller, Mystery
Released: 2021
Cast: Eric Bana, Genevieve O'Reilly, Keir O'Donnell, John Polson, Matt Nable

A taut Australian noir about a federal agent returning to his parched hometown for a funeral, only to have an old unsolved mystery drag him back into the dark secrets of his past. It's methodical, atmospheric, and genuinely unnerving—the kind of thriller that trusts you to keep up without spelling everything out.

TMDb rating

3.4

Should you watch it?

Watch it if you like a slow-burning mystery where the landscape weighs as heavily as the investigation, and the past seeps into a present that refuses to stay quiet.

Skip it if you need a brisk plot with regular reveals; this one trades momentum for mood, heat and simmering small-town resentment, and its middle can drag.

What it asks of you: Just under two hours, unhurried and dust-dry, with long lingering shots and quiet stretches that let the grief and heat sink in slowly.

Not sure? Find tonight's pick in a minute.

If you liked this

Mystic River2003

Three childhood friends reunite when a crime strikes their Boston neighbourhood. Like The Dry, it's about how the past never really leaves small communities, and how trauma echoes across decades in ways nobody anticipates.

But Clint Eastwood's approach is deliberate and heavy; some find the pacing glacial, and the ending divides people sharply.

Sicario2015

A federal agent gets pulled into an operation far murkier than she signed up for. Like Aaron Falk, she's caught between what she thinks is true and what actually is—the tension comes from not knowing who to trust.

But It's genuinely bleak and offers no catharsis; the film won't make you feel good at the end, which is entirely the point.

Wind River2017

A murder investigation on a Native American reservation unearths systemic rot. It shares The Dry's DNA: a detective returning to confront buried truths, atmosphere thick as smoke, and the understanding that some crimes go unsolved for reason.

But It's heavy and angry about things it has every right to be angry about; not a comfortable watch.

Not sure tonight? Get a pick in a minute, starting from The Dry

The wildcard

Something you would not have found on your own.

Snowtown2011

Both are Australian rural noir that refuse to glamorise crime or provide the comfort of a neat resolution. They're built on the same dread: the understanding that communities can harbour darkness nobody wants to admit.

An Australian true-crime drama about one of the country's worst serial killers, shot in documentary-realist style that makes your skin crawl. It shares The Dry's setting and moral sickness—the understanding that evil doesn't look theatrical, it looks ordinary.

But It's genuinely disturbing and offers almost no catharsis; some will find it gratuitous. Also shot on a shoestring, which means the pacing is oblique and occasionally baffling.

Hell or High Water2016

A Texas ranger hunts a pair of brothers robbing banks across the drought-stricken borderlands. Gorgeous, tense, and built on the same foundation: small towns hiding big sins, men bound by history they can't escape.

But The pacing is deliberate; if you need constant action, this will feel slow even when it shouldn't.

Top of the Lake2013

A detective returns to her New Zealand hometown to investigate the disappearance of a young girl. It's The Dry's close cousin—rural isolation, layered mystery, and a protagonist who's both insider and outsider.

But Jane Campion's approach is art-house and elliptical; plot clarity takes a back seat to mood and implication.

The Killing2011

A Scandinavian procedural about a teenage girl's murder that becomes a maze of motive, betrayal, and institutional failure. It shares The Dry's refusal to offer easy answers or false comfort.

But It's relentlessly grim and thirty episodes long; the commitment required is substantial and the reward is more questions than resolution.

Shutter Island2010

A federal marshal investigates disappearances on an isolated island, but nothing is what it seems. Visually stunning and architecturally clever, though the narrative rewards repeat viewings.

But The twist is widely known now, and knowing it hollows out much of what makes the film work.

Memories of Murder2003

Both explore how institutional rot and human limitation conspire to let crimes remain unsolved. The killer matters less than what his existence reveals about the system hunting him.

A South Korean procedural about a serial killer evading capture during a dictatorship. It's structurally similar—a detective hunting an unsolved crime through decades—but the register is almost Kafkaesque. Masterful filmmaking.

But It's very long, subtitled, and bleak in a way that's almost philosophical. The ending will frustrate anyone wanting closure.