THE GREENSTONE
Director: Cristoph van der Bij
Cast: Cele du Plessis, Simon Jones, Rob Flanagan
Rating: (M) ★★★
A unique thrill can be had watching these kinds of ultra-low-budget guerilla-style films that all the superhero extravaganzas in the multiverse can never hope to emulate, but this Dutch-produced road movie shot entirely in New Zealand, seemingly off little more than the smell of an oily pie wrapper, is an extremely mixed bag, even if it does have a good premise going for it.
After the death of her mother, 23-year-old Jade (first-timer Cele du Plessis) travels from South Africa to New Zealand to track down her biological father whom she has never met, carrying with her a greenstone koru, which is somehow the key to finding him.
Fresh off the plane she rents a car and drives south from Auckland, navigating a series of quirky dramatic encounters which range from mildly bizarre to downright implausible, before finally arriving in Christchurch, where a clever plot twist derived from the fallout of the quakes leads her to a farm near Akaroa.
During all this the New Zealand scenery is exploited to the nth degree (the film does do a great job of capturing the feel of a Kiwi road trip), and although du Plessis is an engaging lead, effectively carrying the whole thing for its two-hour running time, the nicest thing you might say about the rest of the cast is that the performances are naturalistic.
- by Jeremy Quinn
