Shunning the sunshine-drenched image of Australia peddled in soap operas and travel programmes, Cate Shortland's drama focuses on a dreary, snowswept mountain town, where 15-year-old Heidi (Abbie Cornish) tries to find acceptance after running away from home.

She has fled after being caught kissing her mother's boyfriend, and tries, clumsily and naively, to forge a relationship with farmer's son Joe (Sam Worthington), who initially is interested only in sex but later finds himself acting in a more protective manner.

The film is tactile -- Heidi spends a lot of time stroking and caressing people and objects -- but also voyeuristic, with lots of shots of Heidi (never seen without lipgloss) climbing into and out of her underwear as she offers herself to strangers.

The first half has a lot of 'shaky-cam' filming in an attempt to give a docudrama feel (cinematographer Robert Humphreys has a background in documentaries). This tends to become irritating, although the handheld effect subsides in later scenes.

The two lead characters appear to share a genuine screen chemistry, but the story feels like a stretched version of the short story it originally was, and there are unresolved elements -- such as Joe suddenly kissing a man, and a boy with Asperger's who Abbie meets -- which detract from its flow.

But some scenes are edgy and stark, showing how everyone has a morally dark side.

PAUL STAMMERS