The Waiting City, the second feature from Australian writer/director Claire McCarthy (Cross Life), is really quite a beautiful and poignant cross-cultural drama. It’s just a shame that it takes a while for this to become apparent.
Set against the lively backdrop of Calcutta, the cultural capital of India, the film follows an Australian couple’s attempt to adopt a child in hope that it will mend their troubled marriage. Fiona (Radha Mitchell; Finding Neverland) is an anxious attorney who struggles to put down her work phone, while her husband Ben (Joel Edgerton; Animal Kingdom) is a carefree musician who struggles to put down his guitar. Their patience is tested when the adoption agency repeatedly delays their appointments, forcing the two to spend more time than expected in the polarizing cultural and spiritual landscape of India.
The film begins on uneven footing, focusing too heavily on exotic culture shock without giving due attention to the heart of the story and its characters. When we first meet Fiona and Ben in the airport, it’s clear their marriage has been without love for a while. As such, the chemistry between Mitchell and Edgerton is deliberately cold, initially making it quite hard to warm up to their personalities. It would have been nice to have seen these two in love at some point during the first act – perhaps via a flashback, or even by beginning the film back in Melbourne. That way, the audience has a gauge of what the two are fighting for with their strained marriage.
If you allow The Waiting City an hour or so to establish itself, things do improve. McCarthy wisely looks beyond the striking veneer of Indian society and begins to connect with the characters on a deeper level. As the adoption date draws closer, we begin to learn more about Fiona and Ben’s turbulent past and their reasons for adopting a foreign child. This is easily the film’s most engaging subtext; McCarthy, having spent a number of years as a volunteer in an Indian Mission, depicts the adoption process with great authenticity. Her screenplay would have benefited from this parental journey being more predominant throughout, as the spiritual journey being concurrently explored loses some integrity to a few heavy-handed transformational scenes.
Both Mitchell and Edgerton deliver carefully refined and convincing performances, drawing attention to their characters concerns of parenthood without calling for melodramatics. In support, notable British/Indian actor Samrat Chakrabarti (Kissing Cousins) skilfully takes on the role of cultural mediator as kind-hearted hotel clerk Krishna, while Australian stunner Isabel Lucas (Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen) has a brief part as Ben’s alluring musical friend Scarlett. Arriving in unlikely circumstances, her nothing of a character exists only to highlight Ben and Fiona’s ruptured relationship and could have been done without.
Living up to its name, The Waiting City rewards patience. The film’s initial unevenness is remedied by a captivating second half full of heart. This is the first Australian film to be set entirely in India and it’s refreshing to see more and more local filmmakers like McCarthy set their stories offshore, other recent examples being Balibo, Disgrace and Beneath Hill 60. It’s a promising trend that will hopefully broaden our industry’s domestic and international appeal.
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