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 In cinemas Thursday Mar 14 [MA15+]
Director: Paul Middleditch
Runtime: 107mins
When asked about the New Zealand film industry most people immediately think of Peter Jackson, Lord of the Rings, and WETA – Jackson’s new, but very successful kid on the special effects block. But before King Peter broke out with the hobbits and the orcs, he was one of the shining lights in a quiet but very productive little national film industry that regularly pumped out quality films. So, while Jackson’s new, lucrative connections bring production crews from around the world to work in the land of the long white cloud, local industry types use the downtime from making blockbusters to produce an interesting little homegrown crop – think stories like Whalerider, the under-appreciated River Queen, classics like Once Were Warriors, or Emily Barclay’s excellent performance in In My Father’s Den.
And like France and to a lesser extent, Australia, the Kiwi film industry regularly releases competent little dramadies like Separation City. The significance of the title doesn’t really become apparent until the final few minutes of the film, and while the meaning might seem apparent, the emotional punch is no less effective. Paul Middleditch’s film opens on the edge of a spectacular cliff where Simon (Joel Edgerton) and Pam (Danielle Cormack) are getting married. Despite Simon’s confident narration hinting at the hyper-levels of love and lust in their relationship, an undercurrent of mischief and disaster at the ceremony suggests that this union could be rocky.
Seven years later, Simon is a chief advisor to the irascible farmer-turned-pollie Archie (Alan Lovell), Pam is a disillusioned housewife dealing with a horde of kids, and the personal, loving, intimate side of their marriage has become lost in the shadows of domesticity. When Pam welcomes a new friend into her social circle, Simon is instantly revitalised. Katrien (Rhona Mitra) is an exotic breeze in an otherwise mundane existence, touring New Zealand as a cellist in the national orchestra, and returning to Wellington to raise her own family with the boorish but talented painter, Klaus (Thomas Kretschmann). While one marriage is slowly disintegrating, another explodes spectacularly, and when the smoke clears, a bond between Simon and Katrien gradually emerges.
Working with Tom Scott’s often scathing screenplay, and a strong supporting cast including Underbelly star Harry Ronayne as Simon’s particularly unpleasant misanthropist best mate, Les, Middleditch constructs a poignant and often very funny analysis of modern relationships.
**½
TIM MILFULL
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