Justin Kurzel gets close enough to violent men to make their ordinary behaviour frightening. We value his attention to actors, but his films work better when the music and imagery give those performances room.
Fi1m perspective
At the kitchen table in The Order (2024), Nicholas Hoult’s gang leader looks at home, and Justin Kurzel lets us see him there as often as he shows him armed. Hoult speaks softly, with the patience of someone explaining an ordinary transaction. We were horrified by how long we could follow his sentences before registering what he was saying. That quietness is something we wish Kurzel trusted more often.
His feature debut, Snowtown (2011), established his interest in true-crime drama and male violence. International attention came with Macbeth (2015), followed by the studio project Assassin’s Creed (2016). He returned to Australian subjects in True History of the Kelly Gang (2019) and Nitram (2021). His regular work with writer Shaun Grant reflects the continuing interest in violence and the circumstances that encourage it.
In Macbeth, the opening funeral for the couple’s child makes ambition feel entangled with bereavement. Michael Fassbender and Marion Cotillard give the marriage enough hurt and tenderness to make this persuasive, though Kurzel sometimes lets the soldier’s distress explain away her appetite for power. Jed Kurzel’s score sustains the threat of violence. With the blood and mist pressing just as hard, it can become oppressive, and the verse needs more space. We would keep the actors’ quieter exchanges and ease the pressure around them.
The Order benefits from a plainer approach, even if Jude Law’s agent is a familiar type. Cinematographer Adam Arkapaw’s wide, level views of roads and pine hills keep the men small against the landscape. Karen Murphy’s production design gives the compound peeling paint and folding chairs, making it look dismally ordinary. Nick Fenton’s brisk cutting keeps the robberies legible, so we understand the space and where the danger lies. Jed Kurzel’s low strings and drone are most effective when they stop.
His direction of the final two episodes of Black Rabbit (2025) gives an uneven crime series a firmer grip. It cannot repair the repetitive plotting that comes before, but the danger becomes easier to care about. For a first encounter, we would choose The Order and leave the blood and mist of Macbeth for another night.
Biography
Justin Kurzel is an Australian film director and producer. Born in Gawler, South Australia, he trained at the National Institute of Dramatic Art, graduating in 1995 with a Bachelor of Dramatic Art (Design), and later studied at the Victorian College of the Arts School of Film and Television.
His feature debut was Snowtown (2011). He has since directed Macbeth (2015), Assassin's Creed (2016), True History of the Kelly Gang (2019), Nitram (2021) and The Order (2024), on which he also served as producer. He directed two episodes of the series Black Rabbit (2025). His brother Jed Kurzel has composed the score for all of his feature films.
Kurzel is married to actress Essie Davis.
