No Netflix? Here are four great films you can watch for free on Māori+
It's been a month since I cancelled Netflix, and it's been a frictionless transition. Living with only locallyowned providers of film and TV shows isn't a hardship. In fact, I reckon it's making me a better person and more fun at parties.
My uptake of films with the beautiful people at AroVision has increased - and if you are not a part of AroVision, Academy On Demand or one of the other local streaming services, you really can't call yourself a lover of film in Aotearoa. They're free to join and basically brilliant.
But I'm also getting more familiar with what our TV channels are putting online, and it really is a treat.
Today, let's look at Māori+. The Māori+ site (maoriplus.co.nz) is laid out in the usual fashion. It doesn't have a dedicated movie section, but under drama and comedy there's plenty to be found. And some of it is astonishing.
A few weeks back I was raving about the Scandinavian documentary The Painter and the Thief, about the journey an artist and a criminal embark on when they become friends. The Painter and the Thief is one of the most affecting and
unexpected films I've seen in years. I can't recommend it highly enough. It's free on Māori+.
You can also find the 2014 Time Out of Mind, starring Hollywood superstar Richard Gere in his greatest performance, as a homeless guy on the streets of New York.
Gere is fantastic here, as are Steve Buscemi, Jena Malone and Jeremy Strong (Succession). Time Out of Mind is a gem that never got the exposure it deserved. I'm glad it's available here.
Māori+ are also hosting The Father, which rightly won Anthony Hopkins his second Academy award, playing a man in his 80s, apparently trying to hang on to his independence while his daughter tries to care for him. The Father is an astonishing film, and one of the greatest on-screen treatments of aging and dementia you will ever see. This is
a hugely recommended and celebrated film, and, again, it's free on Māori+.
I'm also going to recommend A Bump Along the Way, which is a raucous and truly funny adult comedy from Northern Ireland. Bronagh Gallagher (Pulp Fiction) stars as a 44-year-old single mother who finds she is pregnant after an after-pub fling with a local lad in his work van.
Her prim and well-behaved teenage daughter Allegra is horrified, as are most of Pamela's friends, but writer and director Shelly Love finds a way through the story that is funny as hell, but also grounded and gritty. A Bump Along the Way got a limited release, but vanished too soon. I'm glad to see it here, available for free to watch.
So there you go. A little help with the cost of living crisis, one great film at a time.