23-year-old Jack Flange (Alex O'Lachlan), moves from Sydney to a small oyster-farming community to work for Brownie (David Field) and his old man Mumbles (Jim Norton), one of the founding families of the river who are now almost bankrupt.
Jack has moved to the river to be closer to his sister Nikki who is recovering from a car accident in a private hospital nearby. In a desperate bid to find money for her hospital bills, Jack robs the Sydney Fish Markets and posts the proceeds to himself upriver where he waits for the package to arrive.
In a terrible twist of fate, Jack's package is lost when the river postman has a heart. Jack spends the next few weeks suspecting innocents of having stolen his money.
Jack's suspicions fall on Pearl (Dianna Glenn), a beautiful young local who takes over the postal run and has an expensive shoe fetish. As Jack's affection for Pearl grows, Jack's boss develops a heartache of his own. Ever since Brownie's wife, Trish (Kerry Armstrong), has walked out on the marriage, he has been unable to stop his oysters from spawning too soon. Mumbles believes that Trish is able to stop oysters coming simply by looking at them and is not surprised she is making a success of a rival oysterman's leases. He tries to persuade his son to woo her back but Brownie is too proud to admit he still loves her deeply.
Set in the beautiful environs of the Hawkesbury River and also starring Jack Thompson, Oyster Farmer is the anticipated first feature from award-winning short filmmaker Anna Reeves.
Special Agent Matti
*
MA 15+ (Strong sex scene, coarse language)
91 minutes (1:31 hours)
Film: 30 June 2005
DVD retail: 8 February 2006
