Looking for Grace with Rahda Mitchell

Mitchell plays the exasperated Denise – the mother of rebellious 16-year-old Grace (Odessa Young) who runs away from home – while Richard Roxburgh is the hapless Dan, Denise’s husband and Grace’s father. With the assistance of a semi-retired detective, the disenchanted couple set out across the West Australian wheatbelt to find their estranged daughter while confronting their relationship. Told from a variety of perspectives that incrementally reveal each character’s journey and secrets, the film illuminates the challenges of both adolescence and middle age while underscoring the highly personalised yet universal complexities of family life. Looking for Grace screened at the Venice, Toronto, Chicago and Adelaide film festivals, and marks a long-awaited release from Brooks, best known for Road to Nhill (1997) and Japanese Story (2003). Born in Melbourne, Mitchell relocated to California nearly two decades ago to continue her acting career. Since her breakout Australian film Love and Other Catastrophes, Mitchell has starred in more than 50 feature films, including Feast Of Love, Silent Hill, Finding Neverland, High Art, Melinda and Melinda and Man On Fire. “I actually enjoy making movies like [Looking for Grace] because I think they have a certain kind of integrity – they’re made to express something quite personal,” Mitchell says. “What you’re making in America is targeted at a global audience and can be a little generic and often it’s just in terms of making money, so it’s like a factory. But the intention behind [ films like this] is pure, I guess.” On playing Denise – the bored suburbanite who locks herself in the bathroom to fix her hair upon finding out her daughter is missing; Mitchell says she did not particularly relate to her character. “I mean, aside from the fact that we’re both humans,” she says, laughing. “I think for Denise, it’s finding the reality that she can control: her house, her hair, her clothes and wardrobe. She thought her kid [too], but apparently not, so that [turns into] chaos.” The surrounding cast, particularly Roxburgh and Young, helped to enliven Mitchell’s portrayal of Denise. “I found her really fun to play with Richard because I think he brought a lot of humour to the role, and we just had a lot of fun [working] together in those characters,” she says. “I loved working with both [Roxburgh and Young]. I think [Young] is an incredible talent – very emotionally intelligent, a real artist – and [Roxburgh’s] just wonderful. So energetic and free, a very free actor. Those are the kind of people you want to work with.” Mitchell says that the open-ended nature of the script and characters meant that the actors were encouraged by Brooks to interpret the film text as they wished, making the finished product all the more lifelike. “Yeah, it was an interesting space,” she says. “It wasn’t obviously clear what it was – I think we were just following our instincts, kind of expressing ourselves. I think there is a sense [in the film] that life is ridiculous and poignant all in the same moment a lot of the time – it can completely move you and at the same time make you laugh.” Director Sue Brooks said that her intention was to make a film with ‘space’ in it to allow the audience and actors to create their own meanings from it, furthering this idea by establishing physical space between characters, buildings, and the landscape, which is best re flected in the setting of the flat, arid wheatbelt of regional Western Australia. Mitchell was also thrilled about shooting the film in regional Western Australia, telling  The Adelaide Review about fond memories she had as a child in rural central Victoria where her grandmother lived. “ There’s a mood [there] which is similar to the mood in this film, which feels sort of familiar,” she says. “And it is great for Australians to see their own experiences [on screen].” Working with Brooks was also a highlight of Mitchell’s return to Australia. “I find [Brooks] such an inspiring person, just very authentic to the craft and making art and being an artist,” she says. “Her perspective, I think, brings wisdom that a lot of directors don’t necessarily have, and even the fact that she’s a woman brings that perspective.” Looking for Grace is in cinemas now