WHALE RIDER

[bondish]

http://i.imdb.com/Photos/Ss/0298228/whale_rider_4.jpg

WHALE RIDER

I saw Whale Rider at the beginning of this year (it was released in January in New Zealand) and it was one of the best films I have seen this year. It's currently on release in the US and is being released in the UK on July 11. I think its a great film, and I'm not being biased because its a Kiwi film. It's truly refreshing and actually great to see a film come out New Zealand that has made it to US screens. And its currently got a rating of 8.0/10 on the IMDB. I can see it coming to the top 250 films list once it gets over 1,250 votes, and possibly an Oscar? It's already won 8 awards. Who else has seen it? What did you think?

http://www.whaleriderthemovie.com/
http://us.imdb.com/Title?0298228 (Check for most accurate release dates worldwide)

These are the awards from the official site:

Winner
2003 Lake Placid Film Festival
Audience Award
Winner
2003 Maui International Film Festival
Audience Award Best Dramatic Feature
Winner
2003 Seattle International Film Festival
Golden Space Needle Award for Best Film
Winner
2003 Seattle International Film Festival
Golden Space Needle Award for Best Director
Winner
2003 San Francisco Film Festival
VirginMega Audience Award for Best Narrative Feature
Winner
2003 Rotterdam Film Festival
Canal+ Audience Award
Winner
2003 Sundance Film Festival
World Cinema Audience Award
Winner
2002 Toronto International Film Festival
AGF People's Choice Award

[Lazy Boy]

I hope that the word of mouth surrounding this flick will be extremely positive enough so that other people can see what this great, great movie is all about.

The hype isn't overstated; this is a wonderful film, devoid of any of the manipulative tearjerking or sappiness that permeates most other films. It's an honest portrayal of a group of people struggling through difficult times, and how a young girl can overcome the gender bias and become the leader her grandfather never saw in her.

Unlike the crass and appalling Bend it Like Beckham, this isn't a cliched exercise masquerading as a female empowerment flick. Pei is not some precocious, snotty brat character who tells off her elders, nor is she a one-dimensional saint. She's a fully realized girl who tries, oh so hard, to please her grandfather, yet feeling discouraged when she realizes he is disappointed in her. It's a great performance by young Keisha Castle Hughes; her interaction (dare I say chemistry) with the grandfather and her father is touching and emotional. Dare it be said, I never got so many tears than during the scene where's she up on stage, giving her speech. And, as I said earlier, it doesn't feel like it yanks at your heartstrings, either. That scene typifies the honesty of the well-written story. When the film takes an interesting, more magical turn, I bought into it. Why? Because of the characters and my emotional involvement with them. It didn't feel like "balderdash," as some sourpuss critic labeled it.

While mindless blockbusters crowd the box office and the studios greedily gobble up whatever money that can be scrounged, this film, only in limited release, contains more for your money than any other film I've seen this year (the film that comes the closest to it in terms of honesty and truthful relationships without cliches is Raising Victor Vargas).

I cannot recommend this film enough.

Rating: 10/10

[Shakamaker]

Amen. The best film I have seen this year. A refreshing reminder of how a simply-made film can be so highly effective.

Young Keisha Castle Hughes has no right to grasp the qualities of her character the way she does, at her age. Stunning performance.

I empathised with several characters, I drew parallels from a few of the film's issues with those of my own, and I found myself caring about the outcome to the point of tears. I haven't cried at the movies since E.T.

I highly recommend this little New Zealand gem.

[Hannibal21]

I saw this last sunday and, I may be in the minority here but I thought it was somewhat a disappointment, but still a very good movie.

I mean, it was a well made film and all, the acting was absolutlely INCREDIBLE (Keisha Castle Hughes gives one of the best child performances I have ever seen and definitely DESERVES an oscar nom) and many scenes nearly got me choked up and brought me to tears. But it also felt slow and drawn out, with a lot of the characters I wanted to know more about, especially towards the end. Maybe when I give it another watch I'll like it more but for now it's 7.5/10, the more I think about the more I like it though. My grade might change.

[The Delfonics]

I was DIEING to see this movie. It went from the art house theater to the big Regal theater chain one day but they took it down so fast! I hope to catch this puppy on DVD next month though.

[MMR820]

I was absolutly dying to see this movie as well. Finally, when I actually had a free night, I drove on down to the Regal on Lamar (the only theater playing it at the time) and caught a really late night showing. I must say this film was amazing. Although I can understand why many thought it was really slow moving, for me it was just perfect. Keisha Castle-Hughes was completely amazing and I, for one, will be outraged if she does not recieve an oscar nod. All the performances were wonderful, but it was young Miss Hughes who completely carried the film - a tremendous feat for any actor, let alone an 11 year old.
On Tuesay, Oct 28, I will definetly run out and buy me a copy of this film, as should the rest of you! :)

[Asokan]

Don't wanna spoil the party, but this one simply left me cold.

Why? Ah, well... the acting was solid (though I've seen Cliff Curtis do more amazing work in TRAINING DAY and THREE KINGS) and the visuals were pleasing on the eye, but hell did the whole thing have to be so CLICHÉD?!

To me it was pretty much like BEND IT LIKE BECKHAM in respect to its stock characters, conventional situations and highly predictable storyline. RAISING VICTOR VARGAS on the other hand was driven by amazingly natural actors credibly living their characters (hell, even the younger couple in the film was impressive), so that the loose story didn't matter all that much. The conflicting characters made the trite situations dazzling.

Whereas WHALE RIDER offered nothing particularly new or enlightning. A real disappointment, considering the haunting trailer. :(

[bondish]

Just came out on DVD. Awesome. Keisha Castle-Hughes has been cast in Star Wars Episode III too.

[sharkstank]

saw it last night courtesy of netflix,
great film. i nearly cried during the recital scene.
***1/2 out of ****

[Ed]

This is a great film, very emotional. Loved the music.

9/10

[urbanlegend23]

This is only movie I have given 10/10 aside from ROTK for the whole year. I must sound bias, as both films came out of my own country. But I think Whale Rider is a spectacular achievement for New Zealand film, we're very proud of it, and of Keisha Castle Hughes, who was a tour de force. A brilliant, cultural, dramatic and masterful NZ film.

[Avid_Fan]

Originally posted by bondish
http://i.imdb.com/Photos/Ss/0298228/whale_rider_4.jpg



These are the awards from the official site:

Winner
2003 Lake Placid Film Festival
Audience Award
Winner
2003 Maui International Film Festival
Audience Award Best Dramatic Feature
Winner
2003 Seattle International Film Festival
Golden Space Needle Award for Best Film
Winner
2003 Seattle International Film Festival
Golden Space Needle Award for Best Director
Winner
2003 San Francisco Film Festival
VirginMega Audience Award for Best Narrative Feature
Winner
2003 Rotterdam Film Festival
Canal+ Audience Award
Winner
2003 Sundance Film Festival
World Cinema Audience Award
Winner
2002 Toronto International Film Festival
AGF People's Choice Award

And it deserved every one it got. GREAT MOVIE

[spacemonkey]

This thread has just convinced me to go and rent this movie right now.

I was thinking about it, but you guys convincend me. Hope it is as good as it sounds.

[blankpage]

I just watched this film yesterday and thought it was brilliant. I was just in awe of its beauty. Spectacular shots of the ocean, brilliant acting, and a moving story. My only real complaint is that it moves a tad slow. Even though it has a short running time, at some parts of the film, I didn't know when it'd end. Overall, an amazing movie. It has locked itself a spot in the top10 for the end of the year.

[scottish-movie-freak]

Whilst still enjoyable, I found Whale Rider to be a bit overrated. The girl did give a good performance (good, not great) and it rang true most of the time, the sentimental ending did nothing for me. And the girls Grandfather really got on my nerves at several points in the movie.

I gave it 7/10.

[spacemonkey]

Well finally saw it, I was very much impressed by it. I liked the little girls performance very much.

She was such a likable character! I liked how fearless she was even though her grandfather rejected her so often. She was strong willed and very headstrong but at the same time incredibly cute and heart warming.

Those scene where she was singing were amazing, and the speach at the end made my eyes water for some reason. :D

Defeneatly worth a watch.

[BorderEevilIII]

This movie is gonna be making its US Broadcast Debut on The Oxygen Network..... on the day after Oscar Night....
DAMN! Thats awfully soon!