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.
- Director:
- Harold Brodie
- Writer:
- Harold Brodie
- Cast:
- Jordan SelwynRebecca GibneyMikaila HutchinsonBonnie Soper
Reviews & comments
worst film I've seen in ages
I think Deb went a bit soft on this film. Never in a drunken fit would I give it 4 stars, even if it was edited better, which, God knows, it really needed. Films like this give NZ films a bad name. Uneven, hokey acting, cheesy script, implausible story line, boring and painfully drawn out. I've never written a review before, but this film was so bad I was...
could be better, could be worse!
I had been waiting to see this film a long time when I finally got it out on DVD the other day. I would have given it a 4 rating if it weren't for one major issue I had with it. The story worked. The acting worked (mostly - despite what everyone is saying, I found Jordyn a bit self inhibited/stiff at the start of the film). The music was beautiful and the...
Deb Arkles
Dearest, kindest Deb Leaving you to bury yourself in your own hot burning slime seems to have worked quite well. I've had a busy wee period including picking up Best Picture for "The Map Reader" at Las Vegas Film Festival. Over a dozen festival invites now. Carry on burning in you own fuming bile. Cheers John
Review
re the film's website, deb, i was referring to overseas festivals where it has quite a few selections. i did not refer to the reviews on the website, which of course would be positive. maybe if you properly read what i wrote, you wouldn't misquote and then insult me. your credibility will suffer if you can't get facts straight.
Review
deb - i remember the producer's deleted comment - and he did not say that 90% of the comments were written by friends and family. in fact i believe he said the opposite was true. and anyway, he has invited you to speak to him privately, so why don't you take him up on that, and do yourself (and us) a favour, because you are not coming off well here.
Been waiting to see this film, BUT
and having just looked at the reviews I'm even keener, however, on reading the reviews, and noting especially the penultimate to this, I can only believe deb arlkles (whoever he/she is) is a somewhat precious and perhaps sanctimonius tired old trudge. Maybe some have been trying to promote, who knows?? but so what, there are enough other reviews to get a...
An American who really enjoyed this movie
Saw the description of the storyline while on a flight back to LA from Auckland. I gave it a shot. I was fascinated at how much I could relate to the main character. The way it depicted the maps as his escape, as well as his coming of age in relation to those around him, reminded me of parts of my adolescence. This movie spoke to me like few others...
Stuff
pressHere 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.
Christchurch Press
pressThis 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.
Stuff
pressHere 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.
Christchurch Press
pressThis 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.
worst film I've seen in ages
I think Deb went a bit soft on this film. Never in a drunken fit would I give it 4 stars, even if it was edited better, which, God knows, it really needed. Films like this give NZ films a bad name. Uneven, hokey acting, cheesy script, implausible story line, boring and painfully drawn out. I've never written a review before, but this film was so bad I was...
could be better, could be worse!
I had been waiting to see this film a long time when I finally got it out on DVD the other day. I would have given it a 4 rating if it weren't for one major issue I had with it. The story worked. The acting worked (mostly - despite what everyone is saying, I found Jordyn a bit self inhibited/stiff at the start of the film). The music was beautiful and the...
Deb Arkles
Dearest, kindest Deb Leaving you to bury yourself in your own hot burning slime seems to have worked quite well. I've had a busy wee period including picking up Best Picture for "The Map Reader" at Las Vegas Film Festival. Over a dozen festival invites now. Carry on burning in you own fuming bile. Cheers John
Review
re the film's website, deb, i was referring to overseas festivals where it has quite a few selections. i did not refer to the reviews on the website, which of course would be positive. maybe if you properly read what i wrote, you wouldn't misquote and then insult me. your credibility will suffer if you can't get facts straight.
Review
deb - i remember the producer's deleted comment - and he did not say that 90% of the comments were written by friends and family. in fact i believe he said the opposite was true. and anyway, he has invited you to speak to him privately, so why don't you take him up on that, and do yourself (and us) a favour, because you are not coming off well here.
Been waiting to see this film, BUT
and having just looked at the reviews I'm even keener, however, on reading the reviews, and noting especially the penultimate to this, I can only believe deb arlkles (whoever he/she is) is a somewhat precious and perhaps sanctimonius tired old trudge. Maybe some have been trying to promote, who knows?? but so what, there are enough other reviews to get a...
An American who really enjoyed this movie
Saw the description of the storyline while on a flight back to LA from Auckland. I gave it a shot. I was fascinated at how much I could relate to the main character. The way it depicted the maps as his escape, as well as his coming of age in relation to those around him, reminded me of parts of my adolescence. This movie spoke to me like few others...
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