Finally back on his feet after a lengthy sickness, Matt finds himself searching for more meaning in his life. Accepting a position at a summer camp for autistic kids, Matt struggles to determine the best method for dealing with his two campers. Matt quickly develops a friendship with Rachel, one of the other counselors. Through her, he meets mute camper Jessica, and they form a mysterious bond that provides Matt with a deep insight into autism.
Category: Drama
The last novel by Ronald Hugh Morrieson revolves around a freezing plant worker (Peter McCauley) in an interracial marriage. For this little seen movie adaptation, the role of an English remittance man was expanded in an attempt to cast Peter O’Toole (New Zealand-born Bruce Spence got the role). Morrieson’s view of small-town Aotearoa is a dark one, as he explores racism, violence, suicide and blackmail. Bruno Lawrence contributes to Jonathan Crayford’s jazz-tinged score, and features in the wedding band. The freezing works scenes were shot at the defunct plant in Patea.
Durian Durian is a two-part film split between Mongkok’s Portland Street in Hong Kong and the north-eastern border region of mainland China. Ah Fan, the young girl from Little Cheung, lives in the former with her poor family, originally from Shenzhen, who illegally overstayed their three month visas to scrape together an income washing dishes and selling cigarettes. Fan meets Yan, a prostitute from the mainland, in a laneway behind Portland Street. They become friends after Yan’s pimp is assaulted in front of Fan by an assailant wielding that most dangerous of weapons, a heavy, sharply spiney-skinned durian fruit. Yan returns to the north-east to invest what she has earned after her three month Hong Kong visa expires.
——UPGRADED——
Stig is 15 years old and lives in neutral Sweden while the rest of the world is swept up in World War II. Like many other boys in his school, he’s in love with biology teacher Viola, but, unlike other boys, he secretly starts seeing her. Viola confesses to Stig that he provides her with much-needed comfort since her marriage to Kjell, a drunk, is falling apart. Their relationship grows complicated when Kjell discovers their affair.
At the beginning of the 20th century, a young servant provokes an independent Irish farm community by her relationship with two brothers. Pregnant, she refuses to reveal the name of the father.
Henrik Ibsen’s 1877 play Samfundets Stotter (Pillars of Society) was the source for this German drama. The plot centers upon a flagrant case of municipal corruption, carried out by the town’s “finest” people. The selfishness of the elite results in widespread tragedy, yet still the perpetrators hypocritically blame everyone but themselves.
Chantal and Louisette don’t feel like they have a place in the world. That’s partly why the teenage girls feel such a close bond with each other. In an effort to make connections with others, they indulge in extremes: Chantal ingratiates herself with a solitary bus driver, while Louisette sneaks onto a cargo ship and attempts to befriend one of its crew members. As their respective plans go awry, the girls come to the brink of a deadly decision.
A boy and his mother stay in a hotel near a lake. The teenager meets a fascinating man who can be a singer, a conjurer, and can take him for a ride in his sports-car. Then the mother seems attracted by the man too. The boy’s jealousy rises, culminating in a scene on the road at night where he waits for the man who is stealing his mum. He discovers how hard it is growing up. Is he himself in love with his mother, or does he fear his parents’ marriage may be in jeopardy?