Whale Rider
Synopsis
On the east coast of New Zealand, the Whangara people believe their presence there dates back a thousand years or more to a single ancestor, Paikea, who escaped death when his canoe capsized by riding to shore on the back of a whale. From then on, Whangara chiefs, always the first-born, always male, have been considered Paikea's direct descendants. Pai, an 11-year-old girl in a patriarchal New Zealand tribe, believes she is destined to be the new chief. But her grandfather Koro is bound by tradition to pick a male leader. Pai loves Koro more than anyone in the world, but she must fight him and a thousand years of tradition to fulfill her destiny.
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Oh man, this one was so infuriating. The characters are so unbearable and shallow, the music is manipulative and overbearing the story is so soaked in syrupy "the-sea-is-calling-to-me" bullcrap it's almost unbearable apart from the possibly decent acting and the highly commendable cinematography.
Yet another example of letterboxd's idol Roger Ebert getting it wrong. 4 out of 4 stars my ass
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The true story of the Hilton family struggling to accept a young Paris as their new C.E.O., cleverly disquised as a Maori tale to avoid lawsuits.
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New Zealand definitely opts for quality over quantity in its films. This is a national treasure.
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Oh man, this one was so infuriating. The characters are so unbearable and shallow, the music is manipulative and overbearing the story is so soaked in syrupy "the-sea-is-calling-to-me" bullcrap it's almost unbearable apart from the possibly decent acting and the highly commendable cinematography.
Yet another example of letterboxd's idol Roger Ebert getting it wrong. 4 out of 4 stars my ass
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I remember going to see this specifically because Roger Ebert praised it so highly, but I kind of hated it. All I remember was that it bored me to tears. I might feel differently today, who knows.
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A solid "girl power" movie that's deeply buried in Maori lifestyle. Very moving and a fascinating look at the culture.
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A great Oscar nominated performance from Keisha Castle-Hughes but besides that and the wonderful score by Lisa Gerrard, there is nothing here to get excited about. This movie was directed and written at a tv-movie level for the first 75 minutes with only the last 20 minutes doing something cathartic and effective. Also, it is quite silly at points with the customs of this culture making me laugh unintentionally. Hard to take serious most of the time. Whale Rider is decent.
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Largely lacking in substance; Good enough film - didn't seem to warrant a narrative; Often felt like a legend that would have been passed from person to person - but wouldn't have been a 101 minute motion picture, you know? (I spent a good bit of it at odds with myself: If I'm going to watch this old man be a prick to this little girl there better be a towering catharsis to foot the bill; It's a decent one - but by no means an equal on the scales...)
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Interesting view of a society challenged.
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There's not much for me to say about this one, it just didn't work for me personally. Some of the cultural themes were mildly interesting for a little bit, but not enough to keep me satisfied over the course of 100 minutes. Keisha Castle-Hughes gives an effective performance well beyond her years, and Rawiri Paratene was impressive, but the writing didn't really give them enough room to go anywhere with their portrayals. I didn't feel any dramatic tension, emotional investment or intellectual stimulation.
My blame for it would come down to Niki Caro's writing and direction, neither of them able to keep up with her skilled actors. The pacing is stale, never having any real sense of escalation, and the…
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I had always heard all of this hype around this film, but I have never watched it and after I watched Beasts of The Southern Wild, I thought that I should give it a shot. It is really good film with lots of unique shots in it as well as the musical score which to me was the ebst thing about the film beside the main actress who has such star power and I wonder what she has been in since she got her Oscar nomination for this film. It is a lost work to me since nobody talks about it anymore.
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4 out of 5 (B+)