Mild, mellow and as life-affirming as a soft fall of springtime New Zealand rain, Hamish Bennett’s charming if overfamiliar debut feature “Bellbird” — so named after a species of avian indigenous to the region, which Captain Cook reportedly described as having a song “like small bells, exquisitely tuned” — is a fondly bittersweet tribute to the rural Northland of the director’s childhood.
A portrait of a taciturn farmer father and his dutiful but indecisive son as they try to find a means of communication in the aftermath of bereavement, the film skirts dangerously close to indie dramedy cliché at times. But some astute, understated writing and warm, witty supporting turns rescue the story from tweeness, while the fresh-faced camerawork of Dp Grant McKinnon, and the deep wellspring of affection that Bennett clearly has for every one of his flawed but fiercely decent characters make it.
Long-married couple Beth (Annie Whittle...
A portrait of a taciturn farmer father and his dutiful but indecisive son as they try to find a means of communication in the aftermath of bereavement, the film skirts dangerously close to indie dramedy cliché at times. But some astute, understated writing and warm, witty supporting turns rescue the story from tweeness, while the fresh-faced camerawork of Dp Grant McKinnon, and the deep wellspring of affection that Bennett clearly has for every one of his flawed but fiercely decent characters make it.
Long-married couple Beth (Annie Whittle...
- 12/11/2019
- by Jessica Kiang
- Variety Film + TV
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