Separation City
OK, it’s time to confess.
I admit it. I’ve been hard on Kiwi film and TV for over 30 years. Really mean. I blame it on BBC2. We got a telly in 1969, when I was six. I wasn’t impressed at first; Mum and Dad hogged it for newscasts and Apollo landings, but I soon discovered kids’ TV (British kids’ programmes rocked in the 70s), stop-frame animated monster movies, and then the highbrow diversity on BBC2. Dad said I couldn’t watch Batman or it would rot my brain, so I figured I could get legitimate time in front of the box if I watched foreign stuff or something intelligent.
I’d sneak viewing where I could – indecipherable Welsh language programming, subtitled foreign movie classics, home university-type fare; it didn’t matter. It all seemed slightly forbidden and a little breathtaking.
Then, in 1976, we emigrated. In our wee Auckland weatherboard rental I turned on the telly. Close to Home, Spot On, Here’s Andy, then Romper Room…repeats of old British shows and a few American imports. I starved. I didn’t find a subtitled classic for years. Homegrown productions improved, but I didn’t care whether Dr Ropata had ever been to Guatamala or what was in Selwyn Toogood’s bag. I wanted a faster rate of evolution.
Call me a snob. I’m sorry. I won’t be mean again. I promise I’m a good Kiwi now.
You see, I really liked Separation City. I watched it twice in 12 hours. I laughed out loud. Lots. I pointed at the screen yelling “Yes! Yes!” I saw my relationships in new lights. I cried. I somehow felt more normal. I was entertained, and moved.
Separation City (once known as The Truth about Men) is a Kiwi comedy-drama for grown-ups, with a very lively script by the legendary Tom Scott, whose familiarity with politics and the media is evident. Viewers under 20—even 30—will enjoy it, but its juiciest subtleties will be best appreciated by the married-with-children set, who’ve been a few times round the block and got some real life under their belt. They’re not likely to be fazed by the ripe language or sexual problems – they’ve been there, done that. This is a story about marriages, separations and relationships, and how a group of friends do and don’t deal with the challenges and frustrations of living with the people they love.
Kiwis Simon and Pam (Joel Edgerton and Danielle Cormack) meet the beautiful English Katrien (Rhona Mitra) and her German husband Klaus (Thomas Kretschmann). Both marriages, straining under the weight of jobs, study, children and day-to-day frustrations, are crumbling. Simon falls for Katrien, and helped and hindered by his best mate Harry (the scene-stealing Les Hill), a men’s group, and a bunch of political workmates and friends, the infatuation progresses and everyone’s lives change.
It’s stylish, smart, sexy, heartbreaking, honest and fun. The acting is great. It’s seriously better than a great number of British releases in the same genre, and is destined for offshore popularity. The subject matter is universal, the scenery makes Wellington look exquisite, and this Kiwi humour will travel.
Scott uses male stereotypes for comedic advantage, but there’s enough substance in the dialogue, honesty and tangible pain for this to qualify as a meaningful drama as well.
Two cautions: 1) Don’t watch this on a first date. 2) If you’re a muso, avert your eyes when Mitra pays the cello. Otherwise, the music by Samuel Flynn Scott and Luke Buda of the Phoenix Foundation, and the NZ Symphony Orchestra, is fine stuff.
The New Zealand film industry has grown up and is now internationally competitive. And sometime while that was happening, I realised I didn’t miss BBC2 anymore. There’s a wealth of life and diversity in New Zealand, indoors and out: beaches, baches, bushwalks, TipTop ice cream, chocolate fish, family, friends, Tikanga Maori, festivals, Sky TV, Village Theatre schedules, Separation City. I wouldn’t change it for the world.
Maria Polglase
