Cloudstreet (1999)

Based on the novel by Tim Winton, this rich, epic drama spans 20 years from World War II to the early sixties and follows the fluctuating fortunes of two families, the Lambs and the Pickles, who live, love and laugh together in a rambling old house in Perth.

The house at number one Cloud Street is a great continent where two damaged clans collide. The two families—the Lambs and the Pickles—are as contrasting as the Australia they inhabit. Teetotallers and tipplers, workhorses or wastrels, fate makers versus chance chasers. But really, they’re two sides of the same coin; one that was tossed during World War II and remained in motion for decades. The power of this staggering Australian saga is more haunting than the ghosts who speak out from the walls. It’s more elusive than the serial killer who prowls their neighbourhood. It’s transcendent, like the Lambs and the Pickles themselves, whose lives and loves live on today.