Join The Community
Why you can trust GamesRadar+ Our experts review games, movies and tech over countless hours, so you can choose the best for you. Find out more about our reviews policy.
Tough but tender, Somersault trails 16-year-old runaway Heidi (Abbie Cornish) as she pitches up in the snowy resort town of Lake Jindabyne, New South Wales, Australia. Finding work in a gas station and seeking companionship in shabby bars, Heidi soon sparks up a relationship with Joe (Sam Worthington), an emotionally choked farmer's son.
Shot on wintry location with hand-held cameras for $4 million, Cate Shortland's debut is fresh and alive, a coming-of-age drama that wrestles with complex, tangled emotions. At its wildly beating heart is a knockout performance from Cornish, the 21-year-old Aussie portraying the tormented, damaged Heidi as a buoyant survivor who uses her sexuality to get noticed, touched, fucked - - anything that could pass for being loved.
Like Boys Don't Cry, Somersault captures the numb horror of small-town life, turning circles in the dirt. It's bruised, beautiful and unflinchingly honest.
