This Aussie girl-meets-Japanese man story is full of endless possibilities but the outcome of this film is something few could predict.

The tale is set in Western Australia, where Sandy Edwards (Toni Collette), a geologist and director of a computer software company, must chaperone Japanese businessman Tachibana Hiromitsu with a view to securing his investment.

The unwilling Edwards struggles to communicate with Hiromitsu, both through language level and cultural expectations. Tension rises as they sit together uneasily in a cramped car in the endless Outback.

The slow-moving story creates a feeling of suffocation, which, halfway through the film, is replaced by the couple's mutual realisation that they are falling in love. How their feelings changed is a mystery to me. The progression from dislike to love was unexplained, and left me feeling I'd missed crucial details.

I feel this shapeless film was salvaged by Collette's masterful acting, which provided the backbone it needed. Unique and masteful, Collette, as in previous films Muriel's Wedding, About a Boy and Sixth Sense, was the jewel in the crown.

CS