Up early one summer's morning in her Mount Roskill, Auckland home, widowed Fijian matriarch Nanna Maria (Ruby Dee) decides that her extended family must put on a grand gathering like the ones she fondly recalls from her youth.
So she commands her grand children to organise the event for that day, at the end of which she intends to name her successor. The rest of the film chronicles the tumultuous emotional highs and lows that follow.
Halfway through No. 2, I realised that the film had achieved what any film would hope to - it felt greater than the sum of its parts. But by the end of the film, I realised that it went beyond this, creating a powerfully resonant experience that feels completely and uncompromisingly New Zealand-y.
It paints a relentlessly relatable portrait of the wonderful/horrible familial dynamic we all know so well, but manages to do so while avoiding clichés. There's a lot of joy on screen here, but without being heavy handed, the film doesn't skim over the hard stuff.
Even if it weren't profound in other ways, No. 2 is a triumph alone for being a long overdue cinematic ode to Auckland suburbia. Its remarkable how provocative a long, wide shot of a car driving down a suburban Auckland street can be, and it makes you realise how under utilised the landscape has been in movies.
The rolling valleys of Auckland's suburbs lend themselves to movies in how they create numerous forced horizons. The characters in No. 2 love where they live, and it's an affection replicated by the film as a whole.
Ahead of time, you might wonder about the multi-ethnic cast's suitability to their roles, but it's a testament to both the cast's talent and Toa Fraser's writing and directing skills that any such concerns evaporate more or less instantaneously once the film begins.
One actor who really stood out was former Shortland Street star Rene Naufahu. Age has treated Naufahu well, and his face now possesses an appealing weathered, lived-in quality. He gives a much more relaxed and naturalistic performance here than in anything we've seen him do in the past.
Taungoroa Emile (The Market; Once Were Warriors) also puts in a mature performance that represents a step forward in his acting.
The coup of casting screen legend Ruby Dee (Do The Right Thing; The Jackie Robinson Story) pays off greatly for the film, and she is effortless in her command of the camera. Is it obvious she isn't Polynesian? Yes. Does it matter? No.
No one really lets the film down in the acting department, and they all contribute to the good job No. 2 does of establishing a convincing reality - there's definitely a sense that stuff is going on outside the frame, and we're just getting brief glimpses into a broader world.
No. 2 is a joyous film that wears its heart on its sleeve, and in doing so invites a welcome connection to its audience. A proudly local film in its textured ethnicity, there's not a hint of cultural cringe to be found. Plus it serves as a hearty reminder that we have many contemporary stories to tell in this country.
Highly recommended.
Dominic Corry
No. 2 opens in cinemas on February 16th.
