The defence The Arthouse Gremlin
“Its refusal to behave is the point.”
The strange choices create the kind of friction that follows you out of the theatre and into the argument.
Back to trending 
The Last Wave
Drama · Mystery · Horror · 1977
A Sydney lawyer defends five Aboriginal people in a ritualised taboo murder and in the process learns disturbing truths about himself and premonitions.
Movie details
The Last Wave
“Hasn't the weather been strange ...could it be a warning?”
1977 Drama · Mystery · Horror 1h 46m
Critical arithmetic
One number, for now.
Scores change. Arguments endure.
TMDB
6.7 / 10
Community rating
A Sydney lawyer defends five Aboriginal people in a ritualised taboo murder and in the process learns disturbing truths about himself and premonitions.
CriticWise case file
What this film says about your taste.
Not a recommendation score. A measure of how closely the film’s taste signals resemble yours.
The archetype split
Who fights over The Last Wave?
For the defence
The Arthouse Gremlin
“The stranger, the better.”
Read their case For the prosecution
The Popcorn Loyalist
“Big screen, big feelings, no apologies.”
Read their objectionThe split comes from the same five-axis model used by the test, not audience ratings or review sentiment.
Taste neighbourhood
Nearby on the taste map.
TMDB supplies the candidates. CriticWise reorders them by craft, strangeness, prestige, emotion, and pace.
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The Babadook
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A grieving single mother and her child fall into a deep well of paranoia when an eerie children's book manifests in their home.
Midsommar
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The Gift
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Annie Wilson, young widow and mother of three, makes her living foretelling others' futures—though her own has become cloudier than even she can see. Threatened by a client's violent husband and plagued by visions of a missing local woman, Annie finds herself pulled into a thicket of lies and deception in which her extraordinary gift may ultimately get her killed.
Beast
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Before I Wake
Drama · 2016
An orphaned child's dreams—and nightmares—manifest physically as he sleeps.
Cargo
Drama · 2017
After being infected in the wake of a violent pandemic and with only 48 hours to live, a father struggles to find a new home for his baby daughter.
Malignant
Horror · 2021
Madison is paralyzed by shocking visions of grisly murders, and her torment worsens as she discovers that these waking dreams are in fact terrifying realities with a mysterious tie to her past.
Hold Your Breath
Horror · 2024
In 1930s Oklahoma amid the region's horrific dust storms, a woman is convinced that a sinister presence is threatening her family.
Where it lives
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Names above the title
The people responsible.
Cast & crew
Directed by
Peter Weir
Written by
Peter Weir · Petru Popescu · Tony Morphett
Richard Chamberlain
David Burton
Olivia Hamnett
Annie Burton
David Gulpilil
Chris Lee
Frederick Parslow
Rev. Burton
Vivean Gray
Dr. Whitburn
Athol Compton
Billy Corman
Peter Carroll
Michael Zeadler
Court is in session
Put The Last Wave on trial.
Two incompatible taste archetypes. One film. Read the arguments, then issue a completely binding cultural ruling.
The prosecution The Popcorn Loyalist
“Oddness is not depth.”
A film can break every rule and still leave nothing behind but the memory of how hard it tried to be singular.