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 …
” — 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.
Long-married couple Beth and Ross live in the upper part of New Zealand’s North Island. They have a well-worn routine whereby during the milking or the mucking-out of stalls Beth will natter away good-naturedly about farm business or her new solo for the local choir, while Ross will grunt occasionally, pretend to be aggravated and turn up the radio to drown her out.
The biggest surprise Bennett has in store is that while all the ingredients are in place for a tidily simplistic finale, he opts for a less convenient, and therefore more truthfully irresolute ending. It feels right, because “Bellbird” is not about grand revelations or startling discoveries.
: A Transmission Films presentation of a Herringbone Prods. production in association with the New Zealand Film Commission, Images & Sound, Stella Maris Prod., Blueskin Films. . Producers: Orlando Stewart, Catherine Fitzgerald.: Director, screenplay: Hamish Bennett. Camera : Grant McKinnon. Editor: Jason Pengelly. Music: Karl Steven.
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