Leonard Maltin's 151 Best Movies You've Never Seen - Maltin, Leonard [73]
Only a mature, sensitive director could strike the right note with such material, and Campbell Scott does just that. (Better known for his work as an actor, he also codirected the much-loved movie Big Night starring Stanley Tucci and Tony Shalhoub.) He fully captures the environment as well as the people in it, and that is no small feat. Off the Map is a sleeper well worth discovering.
100. ONCE WERE WARRIORS
(1994)
Directed by Lee Tamahori
Screenplay by Riwia Brown
Based on the novel by Alan Duff
Actors:
RENA OWEN
TEMUERA MORRISON
MAMAENGAROA KERR-BELL
JULIAN (SONNY) ARAHANGA
TAUNGAROA EMILE
CLIFFORD CURTIS
RACHAEL MORRIS
PETE SMITH
I can’t think of many movies that have affected me as Once Were Warriors did when I first saw it. The characters’ emotions are so naked, so raw that they cut like a knife—and their physicality is genuinely frightening at times. I can’t recommend the film as lighthearted entertainment, but I can promise you an experience you will never forget.
Long before Peter Jackson made a name for himself and reinvigorated his country’s film industry, a handful of New Zealanders made their mark on the world stage. Riwia Brown adapted the novel by Alan Duff which hit home with readers in his homeland. Successful TV (and television commercials) director Lee Tamahori chose it as his first foray into feature films, and while he’s had a major-league career ever since, making Hollywood movies (Mulholland Falls, Die Another Day, xXx: State of the Union), this remains his finest work to date. Perhaps it isn’t incidental that his father is Maori.
Once Were Warriors offers a portrait of a wildly dysfunctional Maori family living in suburban Auckland. While on the surface the husband and wife seem to have assimilated into mainstream society, their heritage weighs heavily on them. They were expelled from their tribe years ago when Beth (Rena Owen) forsook her noble bloodline by marrying Jake (Temuera Morrison). The only question, eighteen years and five children later, is why she stays with him: he thinks nothing of holding a nonstop party in their home, and when he’s roaring drunk he beats his wife without mercy. Yet we also see that the two of them enjoy partying—when they’re both liquored up—and making love.
The children have problems of their own and their own ways of coping. The oldest boy has joined a gang, while the oldest girl has moved in with her boyfriend, who lives in an abandoned car.
It’s difficult to put into words why this film is so powerful, or why in spite of its grim nature it’s a must-see. The answer lies in its brutal honesty, showing how even the moodiest people can experience good times—and then turn on a dime, especially when alcohol is involved. Its other shining virtue is its extraordinary performances, by Owen and Morrison. They are so overpoweringly great it seems unjust that they haven’t been celebrated ever since the picture’s release and rewarded with other roles worthy of their talent. (They’ve both continued to work, mostly in New Zealand, but ironically, their latter-day fame has come from associations with Star Wars: Morrison played Jango Fett in Episode II and Commander Cody in Episode III of the George Lucas saga and has voiced other characters in subsequent animated films. Owen played Nee Alavar in Episode II and has lent her voice to other animated Star Wars films.)
Once Were Warriors is a shattering drama: once seen, never forgotten.
101. ONE FINE DAY
(1996)
Directed by Michael Hoffman
Screenplay by Terrel Seltzer and Ellen Simon
Actors:
MICHELLE PFEIFFER
GEORGE CLOONEY
MAE WHITMAN
ALEX D. LINZ
CHARLES DURNING
JON ROBIN BAITZ
ELLEN GREENE
JOE GRIFASI
PETE HAMILL
ANNA MARIA HORSFORD
SHEILA KELLEY
ROBERT KLEIN
AMANDA PEET
BITTY SCHRAM
HOLLAND TAYLOR
RACHEL YORK
BARRY KIVEL
GEORGE MARTIN
MICHAEL MASSEE
The movie industry is sometimes accused of being out of touch with its audience in the heartland. I don’t think you have to go to Middle America to find that disconnect; in fact, I think many people in Hollywood itself have an