Pork Pie, written and directed by Matt Murphy - 7 out of 10

Pork Pie, written and directed by Matt Murphy
7 out of 10


They make excellent motion pictures in New Zealand

One example is the Hunt for the Wilderpeople, with the fabulous Sam Neil.
It is reviews at realini.blogspot.com.

Alas, Pork Pie is less accomplished.
There is much going on in the film though.

Perhaps too much.

A yellow Mini is 'repossessed' and two men and a young woman run with it for the length of the country.
That was a poor joke, meaning to say that it is a small country,  but only proving the ignorance of the undersigned.

Luke is a Maori who has taken the car that had already been stolen.
He is therefore less of a criminal.

In fact, at one point the whole country seems to support the three fugitives, even if they play outside the law.
A Mini club even endeavors to help them escape the police, by confusing them with an avalanche of similar cars.

Jon is a writer who has had little success with his activity lately.
He is marked by the fact that he has failed to come at...his own wedding.

He now tries to get his bride-to-be back.
The premise of walking out of a wedding does not make this failed groom too endearing.

Not for this viewer.
True, if he is to fail, better before than soon after.

Keira is the woman of this awkward triangle, which is not a ménage a trois.
She is an activist, formidable rebel, dedicated to noble causes.

The way in which she joins the group may strike some as funny.
This cinephile found it preposterous.

As she works at a hamburger joint, where she plans to protest, Jon and Luke stop their car to order.
The young woman jumps from her window, into the car, moving her posterior against the faces or bodies of the two men.

Amusing or hilarious?
Well, I didn't think so.

While Luke and Keira drive in the car, some time after their forming a soon famous threesome, Jon is...on the Mini.
In a coffin, no less.

It is meant to be used for the Keira protest.
But it nearly kills the writer.

As the fantastic pilot maneuvers the car, chased by multiple police vehicles, the coffin and the outre passenger fall, barely escaping death.
You could find the humor, action, love story, plot and all else phenomenal.

I did not.

Except, perhaps some moments.
When they are stopped by a police patrol, Jon is quick to hint that the officer has pulled them over because of his racism.

As it turns out, the policeman is himself a Maori.
The film seems to light, lacking substance, but this may very well be just a wrong opinion.