In need of a good distraction last night, we rewatched The Dressmaker.

Premise: Accused of murder when she was a child, a dressmaker (Kate Winslet) returns to her small Australian town to seek revenge on the locals who did her wrong.

Director: Jocelyn Moorhouse

Writers: Rosalie Ham, Jocelyn Moorhouse, and P.J. Hogan

Starring: Kate Winslet, Liam Hemsworth, Judy Davis, Hugo Weaving

The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly

Laugh? I nearly wet myself watching this one last night, on Netflix. Darkly funny and perfectly cast, Kate Winslet—as Myrtle ‘Tilly’ Dunnage—hits this one out of the ball park as the seamstress seductress. But stealing nearly every scene playing Winslet’s mother, Mad Molly, Judy Davis shows us why she’s one of the best character actors, that’s ever been.

Not to be out done, Liam Hemsworth—Thor’s younger brother—serves up the love interest and eye candy, but it’s Hugo Weaving as Sgt. Farrat that made my eyes water more than once, I was laughing that much. Simply deliciously over the top acting.

Seriously, the satire, the one-liners dripping in vitriol, the bitter resentment, and knives out personas littering this spaghetti western set in nowhere, Australia, was a delightful romp in the desert under dusty blistering skies. Sharp as a samurai’s blade, cutting to the bone, and wreaking revenge from every pore, Tilly Dunnage (Kate Winslet) digs up the truth of her childhood and sets things to rights by the end.

Talk about burning it all down to the ground, Winslet sets the place on fire. Literally!

Between the sarcasm, satire, and 50s Hollywood glam costumes, this one was darkly and deliciously funny. Highly recommended!