The third in a trilogy of films raising the voices of women (after Waru (2017) and Vai (2019)), Kāinga (or home) gives us eight short films each focusing on a girl or woman from an Asian country trying to find her place in Aotearoa New Zealand. The connection between them, as the stories span decades, is the same house on 11 Rua Road where they all live or visit.
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Damn you, Gaysorn Thavat, you made me cry. I thought this might be a run-of-the-mill feel-good drama about a feisty woman fighting the system but it was so much more.
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A well-meaning but underwhelming documentary that fails to paint a compelling portrait of its quirky Maori subjects.
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James Ashcroft’s ‘family terrorised in the wilderness’ horror is much more than it seems, revealing layers that explore human frailty and New Zealand’s dark past.
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Image via http://www.indiewire.com
I’ll declare a bias upfront: I’m a Taika Waititi fan. From Boy (2010) and Eagle vs. Shark (2007) to What We Do in the Shadows (2014) and Hunt for the Wilderpeople (2016), his dry, droll, irreverent humour never fails to win me over. He even made a superhero movie watchable with Thor: Ragnarok (2017) mostly not taking itself too seriously. Continue reading
Image via miff.com.au
I was primed for this New Zealand musical as a line of Maori singers serenaded the queue as we waited and they walked into the cinema. I was a tad disappointed when I realised they were there for For My Father’s Kingdom in Kino 1 and Daffodils was going to be a bit more pakeha. Continue reading
Image via miff.com.au
“Compromise is part of being colonial. You have to compromise to survive.” This underlying message, spoken by filmmaker and director Hepi Mita’s mum, Merata Mita, plays out in this lovingly constructed homage to whanau (family), Maori culture and Merata. Continue reading
Image via miff.com.au
This Kiwi creation takes you into the world of aspiring rugby player 18-year-old Hemi. His dream to play for New Zealand is tempered by a need for him to be able to connect with his Maori culture and fully understand and engage with the Haka before he can be ready for such a step. Continue reading
Image via miff.com.au
This surprising New Zealand drama set on a remote sub-antarctic island focuses on three separate view points of one story. Continue reading
Image from Spirited Away via http://www.neogaf.com
If you’ve got kids living at home, you’ll know the struggle to find a movie that the whole family can watch and enjoy that isn’t overloaded with Disney cuteness. We all know about the big blockbuster movies but here are a handful of lesser known PG movies that have been on high rotation in our household. Continue reading
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