Kiwi movie is music to our ears

Mama’s Music Box (G, 80 mins) Directed by Stallone Vaiaoga-ioasa Reviewed by Graeme Tuckett ★★★★

Stallone Vaiaoga-ioasa had three feature films on his CV when he decided to take on the self-imposed challenge of making a fourth in 30 days flat.

From sitting down with a blank laptop screen to write the script, to having a completed film in one month, is the sort of turn-around most film-makers would label as insanity – and, most likely, impossible.

But, Vaiaoga-ioasa is no ordinary film-maker. His first release, Three Wise Cousins, was a great wee movie that truly deserved all the acclaim it received and a lot more bums on seats than it got.

Mama’s Music Box sees Vaiaoga-ioasa back on familiar ground, in the suburban streets and malls of Ma¯ngere, unfurling a simple, but happily watchable tale of two grown grandchildren trying to retrieve amuch-loved music box from somewhere in the clutches of their grandmother’s much-divided family.

Mama has had a falling out with all of her siblings, the reasons for which are murky and labyrinthine. Now showing the first cracks of dementia, she is fixated on getting this family heirloom back on her mantelpiece for Christmas.

So good-hearted Sam (Sieni Leo’o Olo) and her slightly lessthan-willing brother Matai (Unaloto Funaki) set off on a trip around the neighbourhood to try to understand and repair the feud, while Matai pines for a new love and wonders how he’s ever going to afford the expensive gifts he’s promised her.

Mama’s Music Box is a simple story, told well. The film has a real, locatable heart within it and a host of details that tell of a crew and a director who are speaking directly from their own lives, experiences and homes.

The attention given to the food, the gifts and the music in this film might even pass unnoticed anywhere but Aotearoa. But here – and perhaps within other cultures around the world, which still recognise that there are currencies other than money – we see what is being transacted.

And we can admire the deftness and the lightness of touch that this film brings to getting such things right.

Likewise, the performances and the camera work. There’s nothing here to excite the people who love to sit around in cafes and talk about ‘‘cinema’’ – whatever that means any more – but everything on screen achieves exactly what it needs to, without a wasted frame.

The film just occasionally tries a little too hard to extract a laugh from every scene, when a couple of moments could have been a left a little tougher and harder-edged, but mostly, Mama’s Music Box is a treat.

Expecting something lightweight and knockabout, I came out charmed and even a little moved. Bravo. And, more please.