The Dry
IFC Films | Release Date: May 21, 2021 CRITIC SCORE DISTRIBUTION
69
METASCORE
Generally favorable reviews based on 23 Critic Reviews
Positive:
16
Mixed:
7
Negative:
0
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Critic Reviews

Critic scorePublicationBy date
88
The Seattle TimesMoira MacdonaldMay 20, 2021
The familiarity is part of what makes The Dry tick along so nicely; it reminds you of other good movies even as you enjoy its own special flavor. Read full review
83
The Film StageJared MobarakJun 4, 2021
The Dry reveals itself as an engaging thriller in the vein of fellow Australian production Top of the Lake with duplicitous figures sharing a contentious enough history to confuse facts with emotions thanks to having a familiar face heading up the investigation. Read full review
80
The TelegraphTim RobeyAug 6, 2021
It’s consistently absorbing as well as evocative to the harsh finish, with mordant plot surprises Connolly keeps smartly tucked away. Read full review
80
New York Magazine (Vulture)Bilge EbiriMay 24, 2021
The Dry is a beautiful thriller that leaves us not with explanations, but with overwhelming sadness. Read full review
80
Wall Street JournalJoe MorgensternMay 20, 2021
Watching the film is such an intense experience that most of its flaws fall away and its red herrings serve only to enhance the local color. Read full review
80
VarietyRichard KuipersJan 26, 2021
Expertly directed and co-written by respected filmmaker Robert Connolly (“Balibo,” “Paper Planes”), The Dry has all the character intrigue, clever plot twists and red herrings to keep viewers guessing. Read full review
80
The GuardianLuke BuckmasterJan 26, 2021
Director Robert Connolly’s adaptation is a very gripping and polished film, commandingly performed and directed, with an airtight sense of tonal cohesiveness – despite lots of, well, air in the frame, derived from countless mid- and long-shots capturing barren exterior locations in a fictitious Australian outback town. Read full review
75
Chicago TribuneKatie WalshMay 21, 2021
At times, it can feel a bit like “Clue” with so many plausible characters and motives swirling around and around, but Bana keeps it grounded, as a professional trying to do his job the best he can, while caught up in memory and trauma. Read full review
75
RogerEbert.comSheila O'MalleyMay 21, 2021
Part of the joy of The Dry is watching this excellent cast in action. Read full review
75
San Francisco ChronicleMick LaSalleMay 19, 2021
Bana is rock-solid throughout, able to convey sensitivity and moral probity through a not quite impassive facade — never overdoing it, never underdoing it — and yet fulfilling his duties as the movie’s locus of feeling and meaning. Read full review
75
The Associated PressLindsey BahrMay 19, 2021
Anyone hooked on Mare of Easttown and looking for a holdover in between episodes would be well-served by the intrigue of The Dry. It’s actually a bit of a wonder that it wasn’t stretched out into a television series itself, but Connolly has a command on the pacing and The Dry never feels rushed or undercooked. Read full review
75
Movie NationRoger MooreMay 18, 2021
Aussie director Robert Connolly (“The Bank”) takes his time with this material, slowly building up characters, layer by layer. The stresses of the drought are stated overtly at first, and slip into the background. Read full review
70
Film ThreatAlex SavelievMay 26, 2021
We’ve seen it all before: the obsessive cop with emotional baggage, the small-town folk being interrogated, the lovey-dovey subplot, the tonal dreariness. The filmmaker isn’t aiming to avoid tropes, and what the film does, it does splendidly, though an injection of humor would have certainly been welcome. Read full review
69
Paste MagazineJacob OllerMay 20, 2021
As is, The Dry’s condensed yet unfocused, by-the-numbers drama might be fine enough, but those looking for a truly great telling of this story may feel that justice wasn’t served. Read full review
67
IndieWireDavid EhrlichMay 24, 2021
The result is a raw but straightforward detective yarn that feels nagged by the past rather than bedeviled by it, when even a pinch of the spectral uncertainty that Peter Weir found down the road in “Picnic at Hanging Rock” would have made it easier to appreciate why Aaron’s childhood wounds still feel so fresh. Read full review
67
The PlaylistJason BaileyMay 20, 2021
Bana is one of the producers of The Dry, and it’s not hard to see why he wanted to act the role, which is uniquely suited to his specific talents – his potent mixture of brusque physicality and barely bottled emotion. Connolly is a patient enough director to let us take in the pain this man holds in his face and the quiet power in his eyes. Read full review
60
Rolling StoneK. Austin CollinsMay 24, 2021
The Dry is solid and appreciably sad but, for all the virtues of its rough symbolism and intriguing backstory, almost too jampacked with discovery for its own good. Read full review
60
The New York TimesNicolas RapoldMay 20, 2021
The many red herrings and the dark-secret finale recall the reliable, compulsive appeal of a page-turner, although the tensions don’t always feel fully translated to the rhythms and demands of a film. Read full review
60
The New YorkerAnthony LaneMay 17, 2021
The plot of The Dry, it has to be said, is not a model of elegance and plausibility. I sniffed out the villain, who barely merits the description, a fair way off, and the dénouement, though it involves the threat of fire-starting, is the dampest of squibs. Yet the film has serious staying power. Read full review
60
Screen DailySarah WardFeb 25, 2021
While little here eschews genre conventions, Bana’s weathered performance and striking work by DoP Stefan Duscio ensure that this is a gripping-enough watch, even as it ticks a torrent of familiar boxes. Read full review
60
Time OutStephen A RussellJan 26, 2021
Bana’s taut lead performance is an apt match for the film’s haunted spirit. Forbidding visuals like vast, weather-worn boulders split in two by mighty gum trees grant this dark tale just enough Australian gothic to conjure up the ghost of Picnic at Hanging Rock. Read full review
50
Los Angeles TimesMichael OrdonaMay 20, 2021
Bana is, as always, a very watchable screen presence; the film is not bad. But there’s a spark missing that could make the story burn, and the film’s abrupt ending will leave viewers high and “Dry.” Read full review
50
Slant MagazineChris BarsantiMay 18, 2021
The particulars of the central mystery are mundane, to the point where the film itself doesn’t spend too much time digging into them. Read full review
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