Cactus is a 2008 Australian mystery

Mystery film

Mystery film is a sub-genre of the more general category of crime film and at times the thriller genre. It focuses on the efforts of the detective, private investigator or amateur sleuth to solve the mysterious circumstances of a crime by means of clues, investigation, and clever deduction.The...

-thriller film, it is the directing debut for Jasmine Yuen-Carrucan.

Plot

The movie begins with John Kelly pulling Eli Jones (David Lyons) from his city residence, drugging him and driving across regional Australia for three days. On the journey, John and Eli begin to interact and talk, as well as having a run-in with a rogue cop and encountering "Thommo", a trucker.

Cast

• Travis McMahon as John Kelly
• David Lyons as Eli Jones
• Bryan Brown
  Bryan Brown
  Bryan Neathway Brown, AM is an Australian actor.-Early life:Brown was born in Sydney, the son of John Brown and Molly Brown, a house cleaner who worked as a pianist in the early days of the Langshaw School of Ballet. He grew up in the south-western Sydney suburb of Bankstown and began working at...
  
   as Rosco (the 'outback Cop')
• Shane Jacobson
  Shane Jacobson
  Shane Jacobson is an Australian actor, director, writer, and comedian, best known for his performance as the eponymous character Kenny Smyth in the 2006 film Kenny...
  
   as Thommo
• Zoe Tuckwell-Smith as Sammy
• Daniel Krige
  Daniel Krige
  Daniel Krige is a writer, director and actor. Born in Cape Town, South Africa, he grew up in Australia. Krige began working as a writer at the age of sixteen for Grundy Television.-History:...
  
   as Mal
• Celia Ireland
  Celia Ireland
  Celia Ireland is an Australian actress.-Biography:Ireland is best known for her work as Regina Butcher on All Saints, an Australian hospital drama...
  
   as Vesna
• Seymon Eckert as Katie
• John Martin as Petrol Attendant
• Steve Rodgers as Spuddo (voice)
• Wayne Walker as Ute Driver
• Cheyenne as Charlie Sparkles
• Craig Bartlett
  Craig Bartlett
  Craig Michael Bartlett is an animator best known for writing for Rugrats and creating the television series Hey Arnold!.-Career:...
  
   as Radio Operator
• Robert Whiteside as Bar Patron
• Russell Hunt as Bar Patron
• Robert Shearim as Bar Patron
• Elspeth Baird as Gardening woman

Production

The directing debut of Jasmine Yuen Carrucan was shot in New South Wales

New South Wales

New South Wales is a state of :Australia, located in the east of the country. It is bordered by Queensland, Victoria and South Australia to the north, south and west respectively. To the east, the state is bordered by the Tasman Sea, which forms part of the Pacific Ocean. New South Wales...

 in the cities of Bathurst

Bathurst, New South Wales

-CBD and suburbs:Bathurst's CBD is located on William, George, Howick, Russell, and Durham Streets. The CBD is approximately 25 hectares and surrounds two city blocks. Within this block layout is banking, government services, shopping centres, retail shops, a park* and monuments...

, Broken Hill

Broken Hill, New South Wales

-Geology:Broken Hill's massive orebody, which formed about 1,800 million years ago, has proved to be among the world's largest silver-lead-zinc mineral deposits. The orebody is shaped like a boomerang plunging into the earth at its ends and outcropping in the centre. The protruding tip of the...

, Cobar

Cobar, New South Wales

-Notable people:*Nik Kosef, former rugby league player for the Manly-Warringah Sea Eagles, 1996 premiership player, NSW & Australia representative*Ernie Toshack, cricketer, member of Bradman's Invincibles* Jemma Heather, state representative 4 times....

, Sydney and Wilcannia

Wilcannia, New South Wales

Wilcannia is a small town located within the Central Darling Shire in north western New South Wales, Australia. This was the third largest inland port in the country during the great river boat era of the mid-19th century. At the 2006 census, Wilcannia had a population of 596.- Geography...

.

Style

The film uses many of the classic road movie motifs such as break downs, fuel stops and long stretches of empty road, with a cinematography that is conventionally modern.

Release

The film premiered on 1 May 2008 in Australia

Australia

Australia , officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country in the Southern Hemisphere comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands in the Indian and Pacific Oceans. It is the world's sixth-largest country by total area...

. It was part of the Brooklyn International Film Festival

Brooklyn International Film Festival

The Brooklyn Film Festival ', prior to 2011 called the Brooklyn International Film Festival ' is an independent film festival held every June in Brooklyn, New York...

in June 2008 and the Munich Film Festival on 28 June 2008.