Lake Mungo

After 16-year-old Alice Palmer (Talia Zucker) drowns while swimming in the local dam, there is a verdict of accidental death and her family buries her. What follows is a series of strange events in and around the Palmers' home as the mystery of their daughter's life and death deepens.

Lake Mungo uses a documentary style of filmmaking with actors in the place of interviewees telling the story. This clip is a good example, with the actor David Pledger giving a convincing performance as Alice's father Russell, relating an unsettling incident in the home as if it had actually happened.

We then see Russell's wife June (played by Rosie Traynor) and a family friend giving their opinion about Russell's behaviour and response to what he saw.

The dialogue seems ad libbed, giving it an effective, naturalistic feeling. The direction (of Joel Anderson) is very straightforward so we can concentrate on the storytelling and the result is compelling.