Spotswood

Spotswood is an Australian comedy-drama about Errol Wallace, an efficiency expert who makes his living streamlining struggling companies. After overseeing a highly publicized round of job cuts at a large auto parts factory, he is sent to assess a small moccasin factory that appears to belong to a different era. Run by the aging Mr. Ball, the business operates on a relaxed, family-like footing rather than on strict productivity. Wallace arrives to modernize it, but the workers and the atmosphere he finds there complicate the plans he normally pursues without hesitation. The conflict turns on the human cost of the changes he is paid to recommend.

Mark Joffe directed the film, his first, from a screenplay by Max Dann and Andrew Knight. Anthony Hopkins plays Wallace, heading a cast that includes Ben Mendelsohn as Carey, Alwyn Kurts as Mr. Ball, Bruno Lawrence and Rebecca Rigg. The production ran 95 minutes and was made in Australia with backing from Film Victoria, the Australian Film Finance Corporation, the Australian Film Commission and Meridian Films.

The film drew moderate responses from audiences and critics. Its rating on IMDb sits at 6.2 from around 2,500 votes, while on TMDB it stands lower, at 5.4 from a much smaller base of 38 votes. The critics' rating of 5.7 from six reviews places it in roughly the same middle territory rather than marking a clear divide between professional and audience opinion.