The End of the Golden Weather

In comparison to other outsider-friedship films, this movie from New Zealand belongs to the better ones, though I know that particularly in this corner of the world, outsider movies are frequently produced („Spider & Rose`, „Heavenly Creatures`). Also especially in Australian and New Zealand movies the characters are particularly weird. When in the beginning of „The End of the Golden Weather`, Geoff comes across that fat woman with a terribly jarring voice and then her tiny sister, somehow I wasn't surprised at all. Got used to that.

So, it's true that much is typical in this film. The extremeness of New Zealand's characters can still be quite enervating though. Apart from that, it's an unusual way the movie takes. The fact that Firpo, Geoff's friend, is a complete idiot, is so obvious and explicitly acted out by Stephen Papps that it makes no sense to try and present him as anything else, and besides, nobody knows what made him so mentally retarded. The way the two guys deal with their outsider position, the development of their friednship and the inevitable ending are sensitively worked out, I was surprised how sensitively, because as I said, at first sight all the characters are rather awkward.

On the whole, an interesting movie, not everybody might like it, others will be moved to tears. I give it a ranking of 7 out of 10.