Dirt Music is a few years old. It never became a big hit and it doesn’t deserve to be one. But, wow, is the cinematography of Western Australia gorgeous! It’s worth watching just for that.

Dirt Music a dark romcom mixed in with a strong storyline about grief. Even for a romcom it’s not very realistic.

Georgie (Kelly Macdonald) lives with Jim (David Wenham) and cares for his two kids. Jim is a big deal in fishing circles in the waters near Perth and is a powerful figure in that world. Jim’s beloved wife died recently and Georgie is not entirely settled in the relationship with him.

Georgie runs into Lu (Garrett Hedlund) while swimming in the ocean at dawn. He’s coming back from stealing from Jim’s traps.

Lu and Georgie, of course, have an affair. Turns out he is a musician who quit playing because his entire family, including his beloved niece Bird (Ava Caryofyllis), was killed in a car accident. He’s grieving hard.

Jim finds out about the affair and threats are made to Lu. Lu takes off for far north Western Australia and some uninhabited rocky islands. He’s drowning in grief. Possibly for real.

The scenery was impressive before the far north parts of the story, but wow, things really got gorgeous after that.

Dirt Music has good actors who are convincing with what they are given. But what they were given wasn’t the best. The ending dragged on for far too long. Still, I enjoyed the film and am willing to overlook the ghostly flashbacks and the magically appearing fishing pole because everything was so beautifully filmed. It’s streaming on Prime, Tubi, the Roku Channel and some other places right now if you want to take a look.