Film Influencer 2025 - Kangaroo Island

Kangaroo Island is beautifully shot on that very island in South Australia. Being released last Thursday, beware screenings by now will be limited.

Lou Wells (Rebecca Breeds) has hit rock bottom after a promising start to her Hollywood career. Now broke and aimless, she reluctantly accepts a plane ticket from her estranged father, Rory (Erik Thomson) to return home to South Australia’s ruggedly beautiful Kangaroo Island. As years of unresolved tension start to resurface, the reunion turns even more complicated when Lou and her sister Freya (Adelaide Clemens) learn about Rory’s secret.

Kangaroo Island is the debut feature film of Timothy David, also known as Tim Piper.

He is best known for being co-founder and co-owner of the New York-based production company Piro, and being the creator of Dove's 2008 "Evolution" ad and the four-part web-series for Chipotle Mexican Grill about "Big Ag", called Farmed and Dangerous

Kangaroo Island is also the debut film for actress-turned-filmmaker Sally Gifford, who is Piper's wife. The couple have been based in New York for 20 years, but in 2016 bought a holiday house on Kangaroo Island.

The film was originally titled Animal, referring to the observation of the characters as human animals. There is tragedy in the film, but also comedy, and it shows characters who are dealing with hardship.

The film includes beautiful shots of some of its wildlife, including echidnas, kangaroos, koalas, goannas, great white sharks, seals, and dolphins.

Honestly this film looked beautiful, whilst also dealing with the dynamics of a family unit as our parents age.

Religion, ageing, relationships and loss were all in the mix of this drama, however there was comedy and light throughout the film.

I enjoyed this film loads more than I expected to.

It was beautiful to look at, interesting to watch and well acted.

I am going to give this a solid 4 stars. More Australian features at the cinemas please!