Tinā has broken records for New Zealand's widest film release and currently sits at the top of the local box office. Photo: NZ Film Commission
Tinā is a film that will make you laugh and cry, but if you're Samoan like its star, it may also make you despair just a little
New Zealand has another funny/sad hit film on its hands, nearly 10 years after the last big one, Hunt for the Wilderpeople.
Tinā has cinema audiences in floods of tears, and also makes them laugh.
It's heading for $4 million at the box office, which is huge for a home-grown effort.
You can still see it at the cinema, and you should - freelance critic and entertainment podcaster Kate Rodger says the shared experience packs an emotional punch.
"It has tragedy and trauma, but also picking yourself up and dusting yourself off, but knowing that you need others to help you do it," she says.
It's no spoiler to say it's about a Samoan teacher who loses her daughter in the second Christchurch earthquake. She ends up teaching at an elite school and starts a choir.
It does have flaws, with gaps in the narrative that were left on the cutting room floor for time reasons.
Rodger says on repeated watches those fade away.
But it's a fillip for the kiwi film industry after a post-Covid drought, and possibly a sign that we're back on track after one of the flattest years of content we've ever seen.
"No one was expecting it to be this much of a barn-stormer," says Rodger. "It's now tracking as the number one film this year of any release."
Part of the reason for that is the exceptional soundtrack.
"When you have a story that is rooted in choral music and set in a school, it's going to have that kind of appeal," she says.
"It appeals to every single age group.
"And the word of mouth on this film - like I don't think I've been stopped on the street for ages ... [people saying] 'oh I've just seen Tinā' or 'I hear Tinā is great and I need to go and see it'. And it markets itself that way."
Spinoff editor Madeleine Chapman, who is Samoan, wrote a review of Tinā in which she argued with herself about its merits.
"I had really high hopes - I just have really high hopes for any local film or TV show because I just hope it succeeds all expectation, but I think particularly with this one being Samoan-led and a Samoan story I did sort of think this could be the movie that brings Pacific stories through into the mainstream.
"I think when I came out of it I realised I was in a very difficult position because I really wanted people to go and watch the movie for so many reasons but I also didn't like it as much as I thought I would."
Chapman says wanting people to go see a film would usually mean writing a very positive review. But she adjusted her expectations after watching the trailer, and realising it was still a majority European cast.
"I was not expecting it to be so premised on the students who are all non-Samoan ... the students' experience as opposed to Tinā's experience. So already I kind of went, this could be a movie where it's a Pacific story but it's for palagi audiences.
"I can totally understand where the film makers came from ... and it's amazing that it's done really well.
"But even doing really well it will likely be the only big Pacific feature film funded for a while, so then you kind of go, well if there's only going to be one, every once in a while, do you need to be trying to go for the broadest audience possible or can you kind of get into the community stories a bit more? Which I don't know.
"Ultimately it's still a huge success so you cannot fault it on that front."
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