An alluring Australian teenager (Abbie Cornish) stumbles into a kiss with her mother’s boyfriend, and after mom catches them red-handed the impulsive girl finds herself out on the street, where her only asset is a sexuality she doesn’t quite understand. Arriving in a mountain town, she’s not averse to trading her body for a place to sleep, but her bad choices come back to haunt her when she begins to connect emotionally with the townspeople, especially the bottled-up hunk (Sam Worthington) who catches her eye. This beautifully understated feature (2004) revolves around sex, but it’s neither erotic nor puritanical; its young characters are governed by their urges, but the experience itself seems as neutral and mysterious as sleep. Cate Shortland directed. 106 min.
