Good God.  I am bawling my eyes out.

What a great movie!  I was so frustrated with the grandfather/chief, felt so much sympathy for Pai, could even feel her calling.  Keisha Castle-Hughes has such a touch with her character; she is so believably the destined Whale Rider and simply a girl coming of age at the same time.  The grandfather, Koro (Rawiri Paratene) is so very real, every bit the grumpy, demanding chieftain-elder I would have expected in this story.

I know nothing about the director, Niki Caro, but the direction is evocative and underplayed at the same time.  This could have been so much more confrontational wrestling with the clash of generations, the gaps between genders, the threat to old cultures simultaneously.  It manages to navigate all these challenges gracefully, simply.

There’s a subtlety that reminds me of The Fast Runner (Atanarjuat); perhaps it’s because the story presents legend as straightforward fact, that legend pervades and infuses reality.  Maybe it’s just the nature of indigenous culture -- myths and oral history are intertwined completely. 

There’s such a strong resonance between Maori and Hawaiian cultures; I know I feel utterly drawn to this story, as if they were my own family.  I could be projecting my own sensitivities to Pacific cultures here, but I hope not.  There’s something that feels authentic in this movie.

My daughter missed half of it tonight since it ran past her bedtime on Oxygen; I’ll have to rent it and watch the rest of it with her tomorrow evening.  I won’t mind a bit having to watch it all over again.

10:43:05 PM    comment []

Not having to go to an office on a regular basis for three years, I'd forgotten what special hell Mondays are.

My regrets to the rest of you fellow rats on the treadmill who are running off to the races this Monday morning.

8:01:03 AM    comment []