Matching Jack

Marisa's son Jack is being treated for leukaemia and no suitable bone marrow donor can be found. At the same time Marisa learns about the affairs her husband has been having for years. Putting those two facts together, she has a thought: if her husband has other children, one of them might be a match for Jack. The Irish sailor she meets at the hospital and his son give her life another direction while the search goes on. The title describes that search directly. Nadia Tass tries not to turn the story into an illness melodrama; the scenes with the young actors Tom Russell and Kodi Smit-McPhee are the most balanced part of the film. Jacinda Barrett carries the mother and James Nesbitt plays the sailor. It is an Australian production and sits among the family dramas of Australian cinema at the end of the two-thousands. The result is emotional without claiming very much.