kiwi cinema

so i've decided to add a dimension that i can do during the week to my new zealand experience: i've started watching classic (and not so classic) new zealand movies. before i got here, the only new zealand films i'd ever heard of were the piano, whale rider, once were warriors (which i'd never seen) and, of course, the lord of the rings. conveniently, there is an entire section of the university library that contains new zealand related materials. so far, i've seen the following movies:

'goodbye pork pie' (1981) - "easy rider meets the keystone cops", according to the box. 19 year old kid steals a bright yellow mini from the top of the north island and picks up a middle aged man on his way to invercargill (bottom of the south island) to reconcile with his girlfriend. the two steal everything under the sun along the way while always managing to evade the police. everyone here knows this movie. a low budget new zealand classic.

'once were warriors' (1994) - brutal look at life in a maori home that centers around alcoholism and domestic violence. completely unrepentant and unromanticized. a very good movie, but not for the faint of heart. difficult to watch in the same way as 'american history x'.

'sleeping dogs' (1977) - starring an impossibly young sam neill, this movie is about what new zealand would become with a totalitarian government. neill's character gets caught between the government and the resistance movement. a little like a cross between the marathon man and red dawn. oh, and it also has the guy who played sergeant hulka.

'old scores' (1991) - the only loss for the 1966 all blacks came at the hands of wales (this, apparently, is part of the joke of the movie). twenty five years later, the ref from the game admits on his deathbed that he cheated and gave wales the game winning try when they didn't actually score. after arguing about what to do, it is decided that the game will be replayed by the original players. hilarity was supposed to ensue, but largely didn't.

it's been an interesting trip into the new zealand cinematic mindset. there aren't too many other movies in this section of the library, although they do have some of peter jackson's early work. from the stories i've heard, that should prove interesting.

fun agricultural fact: cows are bred every year, so a cow spends only a few months out of every year not being pregnant.