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RETRIBUTION (Mukanda Dewil/ South Africa)A Mukanda Dewil filmScreenplay : Mukanda DewilCast : Joe Mafela, Jeremy CrutchleyRunning time : 88 minutesAfter thirty years in the judiciary, a retired judge, at the prompting of his family,takes some time out to write his memoirs. Not wanting any distractions, he goesto the Overberg Mountains to stay in an isolated cabin to begin work on the book.The cabin is remote – a three-hour 4x4 drive from the nearest civilization. Oneday the retired judge sees someone, a hiker, out in the middle of nowhere. It turnsout the guy’s lost. The judge could do with a little company and invites him to hisplace. It soon becomes clear that something is not quite right with the stranger.And he has some unfinished business with the judge, which starts with killing hisdog.With Retribution, acclaimed commercials director Mukunda Dewill makes histheatrical debut. “I really wanted to tell a story with a central theme that deals withthe natural order of things upset by human error”. Inspired by tightly containedthrillers such as Misery and Lumet’s Deathtrap, this on-screen struggle producedby Moonlighting Films (Eastwood’s Invictus) owes a lot to the two main actors,Joe Mafela and Jeremy Crutchley (Lord of War, Doomsday).THE REEF (Andrew Traucki/Australia)An Andrew Traucki filmScreenplay: Andrew TrauckiCast: Damian Walshe-Howling, Gyton Grantley,Running time: 87 min.Adrienne Pickering, Zoe Naylor, Kieran Darcy-Smith, Mark SimpsonA bunch of friends decide to sail along Queensland’s tropical shores:turquoise water, white sand, palm trees, sun lotion with protection factor50… Paradise! After their yacht hits a reef and overturns, our cheerfulfellows are a bit less enthusiastic as they find themselves adrift,heading towards the big blue. Luke, the brightest of the bunch,suggests swimming to the nearest island to avoid getting grilled by thehammering sun. According to him, sharks rarely attack humans. So,don’t panic! But what they don’t know is that an 18feet long great whiteshark wants to be the exception to this rule.You really need some cohones to make a shark movie after Jaws or themore recent Open Water. It certainly didn’t frighten Andrew Traucki. Thefact that he scared us into the trees three years ago with Black Water,starring a giant crocodile with an insatiable appetite, might have hadsomething to do with it. And it has to be said. Traucki has succeeded inscaring us out of the water. The Reef is beautifully shot, with effectiveediting and a haunting soundtrack boosting the tension meter into the red. By the way, the movie’s based onactual events. Party poopers who want to know who survived, may now surf to wikipedia, the others arewelcome to get their thrills at the Bifff.30