Taonga

Director: Albert Lamorisse Loved the film, especially the B&W photography, but I have a major issue with the story. It is almost a documentary until the end when it collapses into magic realism. All that was needed (plot wise) was for the cowboys to honour their promise that, if the boy could catch... Sign in to see full entry.

Director: Albert Lamorisse A French short film. I saw a beautifully restored print (but remastered from a technicolor print where some major shrinkage was not corrected - there were some ghost images in some shots). The story is a magic realist classic. A boy becomes friends with a red balloon which... Sign in to see full entry.

Labour sweeps into power - defeating the deeply unpopular Sir Robert “Piggy” Muldoon. Muldoon’s protectionist philosophy (and unprecedented seizure of power by holding down the jobs of both PM and Treasurer) had left the country within a few days of bankruptcy. This was mana from heaven for the... Sign in to see full entry.

October, 1915 14 Wednesday: The Dardanelles Committee meet. They decide a new Commander is needed at Gallipoli. Lord Milner advocates the evacuation of Gallipoli at the House Of Lords. Asquith decides to recall Hamilton 15 Thursday: " … the only way to minimise losses in a withdrawal is to ensure... Sign in to see full entry.

Nineteenth Century politics saw the gradual creation of Party politics. Due to geography all Partys had, by Western standards of the time, a socialist bent. It should come as no surprise that a bare 6 months after all men got the vote in NZ that all women won the vote as well (making NZ the first... Sign in to see full entry.

Director: Jennifer Venditti There are two major problems with this documentary: It never says what Billy’s diagnosis is (probably autism - but then, what qualified doctor would recommend a functioning autistic to institutional care?); and many of the scenes seem to be recreated for the camera. The... Sign in to see full entry.

The most important aspect of NZ plitics is geography. If you take a globe and put NZ at the top and look down upon the globe you will see a bit of Antarctica (with 0 population) a tip of Australia and an ocean of blue water. All kiwis kno that what happens in this country stays in this country. Help... Sign in to see full entry.

Director: Tomas Alfredson This is a sweet little love story about a boy and his vampire. It also links to “TimeCrimes” in that the boy gets to see his future. Oskar is 12, bullied at school, and his parents have split up - as far as the film is concerned possibly because his father has alcoholic... Sign in to see full entry.

The NZ Co. had, as its mission statement, the intention of colonising NZ (nb: not a colony in NZ but to translate British society, customs and culture wholesale to NZ). They had agents in NZ to purchase land (who experienced problems because Maori did not want to “sell” land and didn’t recognize... Sign in to see full entry.

D: Nacho Vigalondo This film is a sort of “Back To The Future”/”Groundhog Day” with murder and mayhem. Our hero has a very bad day - again… and again. And he is the author of his own suffering. A man is attacked by another man whose face is shrouded in pink bandages. He stumbles into a university... Sign in to see full entry.