Dvd
The Map Reader
Small-town New Zealand comedy-drama about Michael (Jordan Selwyn) - a 16-year-old whose passion for maps helps him escape his ordinary life and enjoy a state of isolation from those around him. But there are three women he can’t shut out – his single mother Amelia (Rebecca Gibney), a blind 20-year-old called Mary (Bonnie Soper) and Alison (Mikaila Hutchinson), a friend whose ‘grace betrays darker secrets’ apparently.
Filmmaker Harold Brodie is an American living in New Zealand and the idea of a boy who immerses himself in maps comes from his own fascinations as a child. Music for the film is provided by talented NZ-based blues troubadour Paul Ubana Jones. The Map Reader debuted to sell out theatres at the Austin Film Festival and also won the Spirit Of The Independent award at the Fort Lauderdale International Film Festival.
Starring Jordan Selwyn, Rebecca Gibney, Mikaila Hutchinson, Bonnie Soper
Directed by Harold Brodie
Written by Harold Brodie
Festivals & Awards Fort Lauderdale International Film Festival - Spirit Of The Independent award
Drama | 1hr 30mins | Rated (M) | contains violence and sexual references | Origin: New Zealand | Official Site »
- Trailers
- Reviews
-
- SHARE:
- SHARE:
The Talk
No votes / No comments
Flicks review
-
4
A story about universal themes but told with an understanding of its local audience, The Map Reader is the latest in a long line of small Kiwi films that punches above its weight.
Befitting its human concerns, this is driven by the great work of an impressive cast. Jordan Selwyn’s turn (as Michael) is an understated yet palpable study of adolescent apprehension, while functioning as an anchor for several impressive female performances orbiting around him. Rebecca Gibney, as his flighty mother, does justice to the complexity of a woman simultaneously pushing her son out into the world and scared of losing the most important person in her life. Mikaila Hutchison is just the right mix of innocence and knowing melancholy, while Bonnie Soper, Shortland Street’s Morgan, has a memorable cameo as a blind sexpot seductress.
Writer/director Harold Brodie balances the performances adeptly within the ebb and flow of the story’s shifts through time and there are moments of striking imagery. Plenty to admire here then - The Map reader is another film New Zealand can be proud of.
SHARE:
The people's reviews
50 reviews
Press Reviews
-
Christchurch Press (James Croot)
3
This joins The Last Magic Show, Eagle vs Shark and Show of Hands as a solid entry in New Zealand's burgeoning noughties genre of romantic oddities.
Read full review -
Dominion Post (Graeme Tuckett)
4
This is an odd and vastly likeable micro-budget gem from the Kaipara.
Read full review -
NZ Herald (Russell Baillie)
2
Coming of age tale loses direction despite map skills.
Read full review -
Waikato Times (Sam Edwards)
Here is a film which will resonate with so many New Zealanders who are having, or who remember, their childhoods and adolescence. Here are moments of sheer absorption as it delivers a New Zealand sensitivity and understanding which is at once a romance of boyhood and a small town idyll, but at the same time, carries with it that darker centre which is part of our culture and our art.
View more trailers close window
-
Loading the player ...
Search For a DVD
I beg your pardon?
- Flicks.co.nz is serving the great nation of NZ with all things cinematic. Question about a movie or cinema? Thoughts on the site? Quips, gripes, advice for our own personal self-development?
- Get in touch with us by email at ED@ FLICKS.CO.NZ,on TWITTER oron FACEBOOK.
Want to see it
What say you? Yes No
Be the first to comment!