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.
I apologise, we feel bad, but there's no trailer available. ~Ed.
A story about universal themes but told with an understanding of its local audience, The Map Reader is the latest in a long line of small Kiwi films that punches above its weight.
Befitting its human concerns, this is driven by the great work of an impressive cast. Jordan Selwyn’s turn (as Michael) is an understated yet palpable study of adolescent apprehension, while functioning as an anchor for several impressive female performances orbiting around him. Rebecca Gibney, as his flighty mother, does justice to the complexity of a woman simultaneously pushing her son out into the world and scared of losing the most important person in her life. Mikaila Hutchison is just the right mix of innocence and knowing melancholy, while Bonnie Soper, Shortland Street’s Morgan, has a memorable cameo as a blind sexpot seductress.
Writer/director Harold Brodie balances the performances adeptly within the ebb and flow of the story’s shifts through time and there are moments of striking imagery. Plenty to admire here then - The Map reader is another film New Zealand can be proud of.
By Andreas Heinemann, Flicks.co.nz
congrats on getting yr wee film into the prestigous (ahem...) Las Vegas Film Festival. I defy any member of the public who visits their site to have heard of a single film picked for it. So you're in good company there. but um...well, its another logo to put on all those dvd covers of MAP READER gathering dust in your cupboard. God knows why you seem to equate inclusion in a festival thats under the radar as a sign that your film is brilliant is something you and your ego will debate endlessly. Nice to see that a couple of real people here (who paid to see THE MAP READER and werent actually yr employees) saw through yr b.s and posted honest reviews of the films. You are an industry joke, outed here forever...you do know that?
AND no I haven't been coerced into manipulation of the ratings or any such NONSENSE. (I don't 't even KNOW the director! Just read some of the other reviews and needed to balance some ignorant and negative attitudes.
This film is a UNIQUE and WELL MADE genuine NZ film. Not some rehacked TV soap imitation! NO CONTEST!
Enough other reviews - don't need to add anything except REALLY GREAT TO SEE THE FILM IS SHOT IN KAIPARA COLLEGE WARKWORTH NORTHLAND!!
wasnt the fastest paced movie , but a very servicable effort ,, its a New Zealand effort not to be ranked with word wide rankings , more on a homeland basis ,, i gave it three stars and it possible was a 3.5 ,,,loved Rebecca gibney , she does very servicable work jeff
This 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.
This is an odd and vastly likeable micro-budget gem from the Kaipara.
Coming of age tale loses direction despite map skills.
Here 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.
We've been told the NZ release date for this flick is Thursday, 5th Feb 2009.
Release date: February 5th 2009.
We haven't received times for this movie in this location yet. However these are updated as cinemas announce them, so check back soon. Hopefully the lovely cinemas in your location will choose to play it shortly. ~Ed.
