Finally! We make something good!
It's a bit stunning to watch a film made in New Zealand, by New Zealanders, and not want to cringe. This is a fantastic piece of work. Kudos to the production team - when I think "road movie" made with a measly NZ budget I shudder to think of the result, especially when shot in a lightning fast 28 days. Yet this film looks like it cost three or four times as much to make. The visuals are stunning, and its cinematography award was well deserved. The story takes a nice big swipe and New Zealanders and their obsession with the USA. It may look on the surface to be your average american road film, and therefore a bit of a typical, stolen idea... but in truth this story rings sound as a uniquely New Zealand piece of work. It immediately promises to get quite dark... and then does... slowly sliding its way into that grim genre that New Zealand has created for itself that Sam Neill dubbed the "Cinema of Unease". This is a great New Zealand film, but better still, it's just a great film full stop. Great work to Gillian and Vanessa and all their team.
- calan8
- Jun 24, 2002