A gentle friendship crosses lines the small Australian town around them refuses to accept in Tim, Michael Pate's 1979 drama starring Piper Laurie and a young Mel Gibson.
What is Tim about?
Tim is a young laborer whose intellectual disability leaves him vulnerable to the people around him, many of whom take advantage of his trusting nature without a second thought. When a woman in her forties hires him for a short job around her property, what begins as a simple arrangement stretches into something ongoing, and the two build a genuine closeness neither of them expected. Their friendship, however, does not sit well with the town or with Tim's own family, who view the older woman's attention with open suspicion, and the film follows how the two of them navigate that judgment while their bond keeps deepening in ways neither can fully explain to the people watching them.
About the cast
Piper Laurie plays the woman at the center of the story, with Mel Gibson, in an early role, as Tim. Alwyn Kurts, Pat Evison, Peter Gwynne and Deborah Kennedy fill out the supporting cast around the pair.
Context & significance
Tim was adapted from a novel of the same name and released in Australia in 1979, arriving early in the careers of several of its cast members and marking one of Mel Gibson's first significant film roles before he became a household name internationally. Director Michael Pate approached the material with a restrained, small-town sensibility, letting the drama sit in quiet domestic scenes rather than heightened confrontation. The film is often remembered today specifically as an early credit in Gibson's filmography, giving it a lasting curiosity value for viewers tracing an actor's career back to its beginnings, alongside its own merits as a character study of an unlikely friendship.
Watching Tim on Ktime
Tim is available to stream on K-Time once you log into a free account, with no payment required to browse the page or press play. K-Time's Farsi-language interface makes it easy for Persian-speaking viewers to search out older international dramas like this alongside newer releases in the catalogue.