If you haven't had the chance to see "Three wise cousins" by film maker/director/producer/screenwriter (ha ha) Stallone Vaiaoga-Ioasa (sounds like my experience), then I would highly recommend you watch it with your whole wider extended family (although it does have a RP13 rating).And a big thanks to Life South Campus for screening the movie for free for families to watch in which I was able to bring my family of 8 (with a few members missing) due to the generousity of Vaiaoga-Ioasa who gifted the opportunity to watch this film to our communities. There we were able to buy American hot-dogs and water for a neat price, with free popcorn so it even gave the feel of going to the movies (although it used to be an ex-movie theatre - 3 busted down to now make room for a large auditorium on one side before it became church) with some before the movie entertainment by local rappers, singers and music artists. All in all, an awesome evening for everyone with "Rio 2" showing for the children.
A big "ups" to Vaiaoga-Ioasa and it must have been neat and satisfying to listen to the audience "cracking up" (laughing) in all the right place, especially since Manukau city is the capital city in the world with Pacific peoples! (ah ha) I was sitting next to my younger sis and we joked and laughed throughout the movie and you could tell who were Samoans as they even laughed when they spoke Samoan or when there were innuendos that other cultures might not have understood.
I also took my parents and they enjoyed it too. I mean, I did watch "Sione's wedding" but it didn't really resonate with me much and even before that with Albert Wendt's novel turned movie "Sons for the return home" was not really very helpful but this movie was so funny in that the NZ born cousin paints a picture so many NZ born Pacific males who don't really realise the hardworking ethic that Pacific born parents came with and then the main character, Adam, learns that there is more to being a "Island guy" than just living in the islands - that it actually takes a lot of hard work, including winning the girl of his dreams.
I love that there are many lessons for NZ born Pacific youth i.e. learning to climb a coconut tree, serving elders first, selling coco around the markets, clearing a plantation with a machete, making a umu etc. really love this fact about the movie in that it turns around the situation in that "we" NZ born have a lot to learn practically about living on the Pacific Islands that we take for granted as well as the value of looking after each other.
There are so many layers to this comedy that I enjoyed as the three cousins played their characters wonderfully with Mose, the "bad cop" cousin being quite hard but so funny on Adam and the "good cop" cousin, Tavita, was equally as funny. The character of Adam, was played well in that he was very typically the NZ born cousin with no idea of how to do Samoan chores as his parents had mainly done everything for him.
The cinematography of the film was brilliant and loved the camera angles and portrayal of Samoa as I know it as bright and warm, and couldn't help laughing over the fact that Adam, wore PJs to sleep as it would have been so hot! Can't stop talking about it and hope that the Vaiaoga-Ioasa the film maker has many more stories to come. A brilliant effort with having grossed over $1 million dollars at the box-office in NZ and Australia and soon to hit American. All the best as I think even/especially American Pacific people have much to learn as we did here.
Way to go!...
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