RUBY AND RATA
A film review by Robert Biddle
Copyright 1991 Robert Biddle
RUBY AND RATA Director: Gaylene Preston
[This New Zealand film played in New Zealand cinemas in 1990, but seems to be appearing at overseas festivals in 1991.]
Ruby is an elderly Pakeha widow who lives alone in the suburbs, and decides to rent out the bottom floor of her house for security and extra cash. Rata is a young Maori solo mum who urgently needs a fixed address for her benefit to continue. The interplay between the two is adversarial and spirited, but not stereotypical, and not predictable. Both attempt to manipulate the other, and both prove clever and skillful players of the game. Both use agents to further their plans. Ruby uses her nephew, who is practicing to be a yuppie. Rata uses her young son Willie, a charming wild creature who says little but sees all. Then *both* attempt to win over the other's agent....
The setting is New Zealand suburbia, the sun is shining, the weatherboard perhaps needs painting, and people wait for the bus. The characters are recognisable, and the world seems real, though not unhappy. The film is gentle and light-hearteded; I hesitate to call it comedy, but it does work, and it does make people smile. It is not a BIG film with a BIG message. Graeme Tetley's screenplay is less like a novel, and more like a short story: the film is not absorbing or engrossing, but it is pleasing and it is satisfying.
Yvonne Lawley as Ruby is the best of the cast, and knows just what she can do with her character. Vanessa Rare as Rata also does well, though never quite makes the spark of life jump from the screen. Both Simon Barnett as Ruby's nephew, and Lee Mete-Kingi as Rata's son do excellent support work, and give the film extra depth and life. Mete-Kingi's greedy-guilty chocolate-smeared grin is the image most people leave the cinema recalling. The photography is often inventive and well assists setting, character development, and plot. Gaylene Preston's film making is well crafted and assured.
This is an unspectacular film, but I enjoyed it. I also suggest looking out for Preston's earlier feature, MR. WRONG, a gentle thriller with a fresh outlook.
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