Monday, Oct. 30, 2006
Mount Roskill couldn't be further away from Middle-earth if it tried. Built on a volcano, the former Bible-belt suburb of Auckland is now a very 21st century ethnic melting pot—though that doesn't stop a tourist character in a new movie that's set there from asking, "Where is Mount Doom?" Rather than ring-seeking hobgoblins and hobbits, No. 2—about an ageing Fijian matriarch's gathering of the clan to name her successor—is filled with her kava-swigging, tree-chainsawing, pig-slaughtering grandchildren, who surf a volcano of emotions over one night and a day. It's all part of the shifting nature of New Zealand film. As Nanna Maria (Ruby Dee) says of the Fijian feast taking shape outside her suburban window, "Look at all that life!"
Nanna Maria isn't the only one taking notice. A hemisphere away in London, Ian Conrich, director of the newly established Centre for New Zealand Studies at the University of London, has been watching the new tide of Kiwi filmmakers with interest. In the wake of Peter Jackson's Lord of the Rings trilogy, the New Zealand industry has been experiencing something of a second coming: from the just-released true-crime flick Out of the Blue, based on the 1990 Aramoana massacre, to Jonathan King's eagerly awaited genetic-engineering fantasy horror, Black Sheep, which carries the tagline, there are 40 million sheep in new zealand—and they're pissed off! Says Conrich, who hosted a panel discussion following No. 2's London Film Festival gala screening last week, "the stories are very rich and very original."
But while New Zealand continues its dark tradition of what actor Sam Neill dubbed the "cinema of unease," perhaps most closely identified with Jane Campion's The Piano, Conrich has detected more recently "a wave within a wave." From the Samoan slapstick of Sione's Wedding to the Polynesian hip-hop of the cult animated TV series bro'Town, a distinctly Pacific flavor is adding warmth and a sense of humor to New Zealand screen culture. "I feel like we're in the middle of a real cultural boom," says No. 2's novice director Toa Fraser, whose father hails from the Fijian gold-mining town of Vatukoula.
And the winningly modest Fraser, 31, helped usher it in. Born in England, where his father was employed as a broadcaster for the BBC, Fraser migrated to Auckland when he was 14 and spent much time with his Fijian grandmother, who lived in the same Mount Roskill house until her death in 1990. While working as a cinema supervisor through the '90s, the aspiring playwright penned his aptly titled second play—and the one-woman show, with nine characters spanning three generations, proved to be the little one that roared. First performed in 1999, Fraser's love letter to his grandmother toured the world to acclaim—thanks in part to actress Madeleine Sami's extraordinary performance—and was even translated into Spanish. But all the while the playwright envisaged a celluloid version, and after several producers approached with the names of directors, Fraser decided to take the reins himself. Here he was guided by his leading lady Dee, 83, a veteran American stage actress who made her Broadway debut in the non-musical version of South Pacific, and who went on to advise him, "You've got to use your voice or somebody will use it for you."
Just as it was on stage, No. 2 on film is a richly detailed postcolonial riff, mixing the simplicity of its sentiment (that culture must change to stay the same) with a surprisingly sophisticated cinematic eye. With its scenes relying less on Fraser's dialogue than on the seamless blend of cinematographer Leon (Whale Rider) Narbey's joyful imagery and Don (An Angel at My Table) McGlashan's soulful score, it comes as no surprise to learn that Fraser's cinematic heroes are movie maestros Coppola and Visconti, both lovers of lushness. And Dee, who took out Best Actress at the New Zealand Screen Awards in August, carries some of the pathos and weight of The Leopard's ageing autocrat. Otherwise No. 2—which was released in Australia last week—is a crowd pleaser every bit as tangy as the fruit salad Nanna Maria's extended family is likened to. Writes Fraser in the film's notes, "Does it show that I was born in England and grew up there and loved the idea of my big family in the South Pacific?"
No. 2 answers with a firm but friendly Fijian yes. For Fraser, writing the original play was the beginning of his own belated Pacific homecoming. His subsequent play Paradise was set in a Fijian island resort in the weeks before the May 2000 coup attempt, and it was while in Suva on a writing residency in 2001 that Fraser began his screenplay for No. 2. "Fiji is still an enigma for me," he concedes. But "I figure I know what makes New Zealand tick these days, especially Mount Roskill." With its Pacific wave, New Zealand cinema is all the more refreshing.
- Michael Fitzgerald
- The raucous tale of a sprawling Fijian family leads the new Pacific wave rocking New Zealand movies
