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No. 2

No. 2

No. 2

Acclaimed local drama, about a Fijian family living in Auckland: Nanna Maria (Ruby Dee) dreams of her youth in Fiji with nostalgia - sunny days, family and celebration. Though her memories are glowing, life these days 'aint. Her husband has recently passed away, and the rest of her family have sunk deeply into their daily, urban lives. To rectify this, Maria decides she wants a party thrown in traditional Fijian fashion, with roasted pig, kava, music, and some laughs, so she can name her successor as head of the family. But the family are useless - either they can't roast a simple pig, or they're not getting along. So Maria pulls the plug on the whole thing. Struck by her big call though, the family pulls together to give the old girl what she wants.

Winner of Audience Award at Sundance. Best Actress (Dee), Supporting Actor (Neafahu), Supporting Actress (Blake) at the NZ Film Awards 2006.
2006Rating: PG, contains sexual references91 minsNew Zealand
ComedyDrama
Variety
New Zealand Herald
Film Threat
All Reviews (3)
Director:
Toa Fraser (feature debut)
Writer:
Toa Fraser
Cast:
Ruby DeeTuva NovotnyTaungaroa EmileXavier HoranRene Naufahu

No. 2 / Reviews

Variety

Variety

New Zealand playwright Toa Fraser makes a smooth transition to the screen directing "No. 2," an adaptation of his 2000 stage work. This warmly observed drama about a Fijian-Kiwi matriarch gathering her discordant clan around one last fete is formulaic at its core: One can guess grandma's fate from the start, but only after, all wounds have been healed and every narrative string tied. Still, assured handling and an appealing cast make this a deserving crowd-pleaser (it won the dramatic World Cinema audience award at Sundance) that should find friendly theatrical and tube berth in numerous terrains. Title, however -- which in the U.S. is scatalogical slang may have to .

Full review
New Zealand Herald

New Zealand Herald

As a New Zealand film it's unconventional in its setting, in its subject, in its origins. You don't get too many local films set in in Mt Roskill, films about families, or by New Zealand playwrights adapting their own works for the screen.

Director-writer Toa Fraser's utterly charming No. 2 does conform to one New Zealand film convention though - the European girlfriend. Braindead had one (the Spanish senorita from the dairy). So did Whale Rider (Cliff Curtis' character returns to the East Coast with German fraulein in tow)...

Full review
Film Threat

Film Threat

Here is yet another one of those films about a family get-together that leads to arguing and disaster. Based on his play, Toa Fraser brings 'No. 2' to the screen in an uncompromising fashion. Suffering from a formulaic story, ridden with cliches, the film has enough remarkable performances to make up for where it lacks. Not entirely, though.

Nanna Maria (Rudy Dee in another firecracker of a performance) can sense her death coming. Living in a house with some of her grandchildren, she orders them to sponsor a big party and feast, with only all her grandchildren allowed to attend. Her reasoning for this celebration is so that she may name her heir for when she is gone...

Full review

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