The Waiting City

108 mins, rated TBC, opens in cinemas 15 July 2010.

By MICHELE ASPREY, Lawyer

(This is the first 2 paragraphs of my review to be published in the July 2010 issue of the NSW Law Society Journal).

According to the Australian Attorney-General’s Department and the Australian Institute of Health and Welfare, Australians adopted 269 children from overseas in 2009-2009. That represented 61% of all adoptions. The Institute says the number of overseas adoptions has increased by 14% over the 25 years from 1984–85 to 2008–09.

The Waiting City is a new Australian film that tells the story of a young couple, Fiona and Ben who are adopting a child from India. Fiona (played by Radha Mitchell, from Woody Allen’s Melinda and Melinda (2004) and Lisa Cholodenko’s High Art (1998)) is a senior associate vying for partnership in a law firm. Her husband Ben (Joel Edgerton, from the recent Australian film The Square, which he also wrote, and from the even more recent Animal Kingdom (David Michôd)) was once a famous musician, but it’s not really clear what he’s doing now. He’s obviously depressed.