The Map Reader

All things considered this is reasonably decent flick about an introverted 16yo boy who's father bolted soon after he was born.

Since Michael was a small boy he's been obsessed by maps - a pastime which doesn't play out so well as a mid-teen amid the juvenile jungle of high school.

His mother, played by .accomplished actor Rebecca Gibney, escapes her own form of solitary confinement via a regular bottle of New Zealand sav blanc. She's a sympathetic character who just wants her boy to experience the big wide world he's studied back to front.

When Michael's hormones are awakened by local school girl Allison, and a stunning blind girl Mary (Bonnie Soper), the tectonic plates of his own small world begin to shift.

The problem with The Map Reader, besides the title, is a few characters don't quite ring true. Frustratingly, stunted Michael is afforded such limited personality as to question why the lecherous 'lads' group would include him in their misadventures. Meanwhile, Allison doesn't carry herself like someone who's physically abused by her father and emotionally by Michael's so-called mates, and there's something about Mary's provocative, giggly persona, despite her mother's awful treatment of her, that feels contrived to serve an unlikely though satisfying outcome

That said, there's some nice observations about breaking free of the prisons people construct for themselves and those thrust upon them. And the emotional penultimate scene, a flashback which morphs from reality to metaphor, is beautifully executed.

I decided to give this movie a chance, some low-budget homegrown movies can really surprise you. Unfortuantly this one did not. The movie went on for an hour and a half and still to this day I have no idea on what the point really was. I get that it was a 'coming of age' movie about a young boy finally being set free but it was a bore in pretty much all aspects.

The actors weren't the problem and did an okay job considered what they were given. Rebecca Gibney played an alcoholic stressed single-mum and did a good job but she was about the only real highlight of an otherwise pointless movie.

My advice? Don't waste 90 minutes of your life- it's not worth it.

This coming of age story is full of truth. Not all children grow up in perfect worlds and this movie effectively transfers between the child and teen aged protagonist. This piece which includes the beauty of New Zealand coastal scenery covers the longing to escape and explore the world. Young love, human vulnerabities, life choices, domestic violence, peer pressure, mix seamlessly. Where do the passions of children cross paths with the longing of young adults. At what point does one realize the reins on one's own life lay onr the ground waiting for us to take them up? Beautiful symbolism in the kite. Bravo.