OUT OF THE BLUE - neutered by its understandable sensitivity to the subject

OUT OF THE BLUE is a respectfully straightforward retelling of the worst massacre in New Zealand's history. A schizophrenic man shot 13 people at random before being shot dead by police after a 22 hour seige. Karl Urban of LOTR fame stars as the local copper first on the scene. The strength of the film is its evident respect for, and patience in depicting the lives of the victims. The weakness of the film is its understandable unwillingness to think creatively about such a sensitive subject. The only truly memorable sequence is near the end. Without more of this, you can't help feeling that this is a well-made TV true life drama.

OUT OF THE BLUE played Toronto 2006 and was released in New Zealand that year. It was released in the USA in 2007 and in the UK in March 2008. It is now available on DVD.

Random DVD Round-Up 1 - BLACK SHEEP

New Zealand is like the Wales of Asia-Pac. All the jokes revolve around villagers shagging sheep. Well, now, thanks to genetic engineering, the sheep are pissed off and biting back, resulting in human-sheep zombies! All this is naturally a bit of a shock for our hero - a younger son shunned by his family after a childhood scare made him afraid of sheep and reject his farming inheritance. He's backed up by a much-mocked hippie as they take on corporate greed and childhood fear.

I am unlikely to hate any movie that takes the piss out of vegetarian hippies. And I love that BLACK SHEEP satirises hippies and greedy capitalist bastards with an even hand. I also love the lashings of squelchy, bloddy gore that drenches this film, courtesy of the Weta Workship (of LOTR fame). So on those counts alone, BLACK SHEEP works as a decent comedy - certainly good enough for DVD if not for the cinema. Where I think BLACK SHEEP is weaker is in terms of genuine horror. The movie is way too tongue in cheek to provide any real scares, unlike SEVERANCE which trod the fine line on horror-comedy perfectly, and SHAUN OF THE DEAD which is the benchmark of perfection for this genre.

BLACK SHEEP played Toronto 2006 and was released last year. It is available on DVD.

THE RIVER QUEEN - costume epic catatastrophe

THE RIVER QUEEN wants to be a lavish historic adventure. It wants to have the mesmerising visuals, lyrical beautiy and epic scope of a Terrence Mallick flick. It wants to tell us something profound about conflicting loyalties and the search for identity. Director Vincent Ward and DP Alun Bollinger certainly succeed in shooting some wonderful footage of New Zealand, and the production designers certainly envelope the frontier garrisons and interior villages of the nineteenth century in sufficient mist and grime. Even Kiefer Sutherland convinces with a broad Irish accent as a soldier working for the British. He complements a cast rich with talent - not least Stephen Rea as an ex-pat surgeon and Samantha Morton as his daughter Sarah.

THE RIVER QUEEN is fundamentally Sarah's story. She throws off convention as one might take off a coat. She falls for a Maori man and bears him a child, who is then abducted by his grandfather. In love with a Maori, mother to a Maori son, but serving the British despite herself being an oppressed Irishwoman, Sarah must struggle with her own identity and loyalties. Moreover, her son has been raised a Maori and sees no need to return "upstream".

This could have been a great picture, but the movie is incoherent. The editing is jarring, the story meanders and character motivations are unclear. This is particularly true of Sarah. She seems to flit between her Maori lover (Cliff Curtis) and Kiefer Sutherland's Irish captain with little reason.

Presumably someone decided to throw a heavy layer of voice-over onto the movie to give the audience a hope of keeping up. Sadly, the narration doesn't help our understanding but adds to the frustration and irritation. The whole thing is basically a straight-to-DVD write-off. Presumably the only reason it's even getting a UK release it to cash in Samantha Morton's domestic popularity and Kiefer Sutherland's residual popularity for 24. Certainly, the marketing campaign is very misleading. Fans of 24 should be aware that he has only a small role.

THE RIVER QUEEN played Toronto back in 2005. It was released in New Zealand and Australia in 2006 and in Kuwait and Spain in 2007. It is currently on release in the UK.

EAGLE VS SHARK - over-long faux-naif romance

EAGLE VS SHARK is like watching a less funny, less sympathetic version of NAPOLEON DYNAMITE, but with the sets wall-papered by Wes Anderson. It's all there. Obsessive, emotionally illiterate geeks and freaks stumbling onto love. Weirdo side-kicks with a penchant for early 80s leisure-wear. A sound-track heavy in jangly guitars, close harmony and Nick Drake knock-offs. The lead performances are both fine and the production design/art direction/framing and editing succeed in re-creating that faux-naif style. But the script is simply too thin to sustain the run-time. Shame. Probably worth renting on DVD just to see a funny Mr T impression and a very very brave un-Hollywood choice in the final confrontation.

EAGLE VS SHARK played Sundance, Berlin and Cannes 2007. It opened in the US in May and is currently playing in the UK. It opens in New Zealand on August 30th 2007.

THE WORLD'S FASTEST INDIAN - great story, great film

THE WORLD’S FASTEST INDIAN is a charming film about a guy called Burt Munro. Burt was a stubborn, mechanically-minded New Zealander who drove a modified “Indian” motorcycle. Even as an old man, this eccentric old duffer was dreaming of breaking the land-speed record for bikes of his class, but didn’t have the requisite cash to make it to the Salt Lake test track. Spurred on by his lover and his mates from the local motorcycle club, Burt eventually made it to Salt Lake in the late ‘60s. The first half of the movie shows his road-trip from LA to Salt Lake – and his encounters with similarly eccentric and charming people. The second half of the movie focuses on his struggle to persuade the powers that be to allow him race. After all, his cycle is so old it’s a joke, and it hardly passes safety regulations. Throughout his travels and trials, Burt comes across as a stubborn but disarmingly honest and open individual. And I defy anyone watching this movie not to get caught up in Burt’s attempt to break the land-speed record. Sir Anthony Hopkins delivers another stand-out performance, although I’d love to hear from any Kiwis as to whether he nails the accent. And the movie is all the better because the director, Roger Donaldson, pulls back from any Ron-Howard-style schmaltz at the end. He lets the story – and what a story! – do the talking.

THE WORLD’S FASTEST INDIAN premiered at Toronto 2005 and has been on releases in most countries since. It is available on Region 1 and 2 DVD. It opens in Poland on July 28th, Hungary on September 7th and Germany on October 5th 2006.

WHALE RIDER - North Country wishes it were this good

WHALE RIDER is one of those films you should really try and watch, and now that it's available on DVD there is no excuse. To be sure, this is not ground-breaking cinema in either content or technical achievement. But in this era of heartless movies buckling under the burden of computer generated special effects*, it is nice to see a simple story well told.

WHALE RIDER is set in a Maori community where leadership has been handed down from eldest son to eldest son for centuries. For the traditionalist current leader, Koro, the problems start when his son becomes an artist and travels the world rather than take up the mantle. Worse still, when the son has twin children, only the daughter survives. Paikea, that daughter, breaks all the rules. She is named after a male - the legendary original ancestor - and clearly has all the aptitude, courage and interest to become the new leader. This movie is the story of her desperate quest to show her grandfather that she is up to the task.

Watching WHALE RIDER through the prism of a recent viewing of NORTH COUNTRY one is aware of the fact that these flicks have three objectives in common. First, both aim to give you insight into life in an isolated community. In both films, director Niki Caro successfully captures the faces of the real people of these areas - their concerns, hopes and fears. Second, both films aim to show these communities struggling to translate traditional beliefs and customs into modern life. Where the women go down the mines in NORTH COUNTRY, in WHALE RIDER, a young girl becomes a tribal chief. I feel that WHALE RIDER is far more successful in handling this issue than NORTH COUNTRY. The transition of the traditionalist grandfather in WHALE RIDER seems more organic and plausible than the sudden epiphany of the father in NORTH COUNTRY.

Finally, each film has to make us identify with the heroine and to feel her persecution and eventual triumph. Once again, I found NORTH COUNTRY confused and confusing. Yes, I cried for Charlize Theron but for the wrong reasons and at the hands of some pretty hard-core emotional pornography. There was no melodramatic trick that Niki Caro did not resort to in order to get us to sympathise with Theron. By contrast, in WHALE RIDER we have a movie of such subtlety and poise that when the big knock-out moment comes - Paikea's speech in the school-hall - it takes us by surprise and with the full force of emotion. The slights suffered by Pai at the hands of her grandfather are not anything as dramatic as Theron's rape in North Country, but they carry far greater dramatic weight. Looking back at the delicacy and honesty with which these issues are handled in WHALE RIDER, I can only hope that Niki Caro goes back to quieter movies in future.

WHALE RIDER is available on Region 1 and 2 DVD. *Ironically, Keisha Castle-Hughes next role after the wonderful WHALE RIDER was to play the Queen of Naboo in that crime against cinema, Star Wars III.