The Hopes & Dreams of Gazza Snell

An exceptional story is one that captures the audience from the start."The Hopes and Dreams of Gazza Snell" breaks into full-speed action and within minutes our hearts are pounding and we are left gasping for breath. It is a classic suburban kiwi drama dealing with deep personal issues,unfulfilled dreams,marriage crisis and most importantly family love. Highlights for me were the heartfelt scenes between father and son, the humorous bill-board scene and the beautiful and clever symbolism in the shots of the boys swimming in the water tank. This film will capture your heart and leave you with something to think about for days. Congratualtions!

Fantastic, compelling, funny, captivating movie. Congrats on an excellent script which never loses the viewer for a moment. Great acting/directing. I grew up in Howick and this film captures the essence of the East Auckland suburb... the suburban dreams, the ignorant racism, the generational clashes and the price of ego. Highlights: the swimming pool scene, the gorgeous brothers who are brothers in real life, the quirky way in which the older brother finds understanding from someone whose culture and background are so different to his, Robyn Malcolm who is so completely believable and engaging as Gazza's long-suffering wife.... Fantastically entertaining movie that stayed with me for days after. Thoroughly recommended.

A touching story that explores the effects of one man's obsession to see his kids excel in something he didn't quite achieve himself. A classic case of a father living vicariously through his sons exploits on the cart racing track.

The story races into life with an intense scene of high speed carting that will set the blood pumping in anyone in the audience with a pulse. The story enters a sobering state when one of the sons enters a coma after a dramatic crash. Gazza is forced to confront both his own priorities and those of his family as they wrestle with the prospect of their son and brother possibly not sharing their lives any longer.

The plot is well assembled, the script not at all forced or contrived. The characters are highly believable and the story also explores some of the cosmopolitan melding that is under way in modern New Zealand.

All told a great film, exhilarating with poignant moments. Highly recommended.

I'm sorry, but after watching the world premiere of this film, a film that has been seven years in the making, I was left with only one thing to say: is this the best you can do, New Zealand? That might seem an ignorant and crass comment about a low-budget New Zealand film, but I just feel that to really make it on the world stage this country needs to step up its game and make eye-catching pieces of cinema, not mediocre works that would sit more comfortably as TV fodder.

Sure, there's nothing terribly wrong with the film, but there's nothing outstanding about it either. Maybe my mood was soured by watching this back to back with Sergio Leone's Once Upon A Time In The West – which is a long time to sit in a cinema with its almost 3 hour running time. This film was set and shot in the East Auckland suburb of Howick (so Once Upon A Time In The East?), and is a melodramatic tale of a man obsessed with the racing achievements of his two sons.

And here's where the story falls down. The script, by director Brendan Donovan and David Brechin-Smith, concerns itself far too much with the melodrama of the family unit and – probably due to the nature of the event that causes the drama of the piece – there's very little left to laugh at. The writers have attempted to portray the father figure of the title as a lovable rogue, but his machinations leave little to empathise with, and it's left to the minor characters to provide any level of enjoyment.

I'm sure Donovan can go on to do bigger and better things. He just needs to start off with a stronger script next time. Still, if his career as a film director does start to wane, he could always fall back on to stand-up comedy. After a very funny introduction to the film, Donovan was joined by the rest of the principle cast after the screening for a Q&A session. Around 3 or 4 questions in, an elderly lady in the audience stepped up and creaked something along the lines of "I thought the racing scenes were far too loud, and probably beyond the legally allowed limits..." Butting in, Donovan stepped up to the mike and said "Excuse me, could you please speak up, I think I've gone deaf."

While many films around are trying to be big and fantastical (and there is nothing wrong with that), this film focuses on the importance of relationships, family and love, and the most important message of all – protect and love those closest to you.

While the film kicks off introducing a man that smothers his sons with expectation and who has a seemingly endless reserve of optimism, we quickly begin to see ordinary lives come apart at the seems.

William McInnes plays the title role of Gazza Snell, and is certainly scruffier than the average leading man, but tucked in between all the hurt and the jokes, the character development and the across-the-board terrific performances show an unexpectedly sharp look at the survival instincts of a working-class family.

Robyn Malcolm performance is wonderful and unexpected as the long- suffering wife whose often panicked face shows you what a dreamer without a dream looks like.

The elder son's performance is something to be noted, and the part of the film I enjoyed most was the relationship he forms with a local Chinese girl. This relationship added a whole other element to the film and shows that there is something beautiful about a relationship that has its beginning at the crossroads of hope and despair

Though this story of Gazza, tucked behind the wheel while the rest of the family pushes, might seem like an unlikely vehicle for transformation this film really is a touching human drama, a tale about genuine faith, and one that gripped me to the very end.