Like Australia, New Zealand specialises in small, low-budget films. While the quirky comedy is our strong suit, the domestic drama dominates across the Tasman.
Made in 2008, Second Hand Wedding is a low-budget heart-warming film about the Rose family who live on the beautiful Kapiti Coast outside Wellington. Jill and Brian are happily married. Indeed, it is refreshing to see such a happy couple portrayed on the big screen.
Brian is a spanner-head, a renovator of antique cars. By day Jill is a state primary school principal, but by night and weekend she is the local garage sale queen, a breed at risk from the EBay infection.
Jill and Brian’s daughter Cheryl has followed her mother into primary school teaching, but is embarrassed by Jill’s obsession with getting the bargain. When Cheryl’s long-time defacto husband, mechanic Stew, proposes, Cheryl rightly fears that Jill will want to get the maximum nuptial bang for the lowest possible buck.
With pent-up emotions from a lifetime of feeling that second hand is second class, Cheryl break her mother’s heart.
Although religion plays no role in the Rose’s family life or in Cheryl’s wedding, the values of the film are in the right place. Growing up, forgiving parents for being one’s parents and telling the truth in charity are all nicely explored.
The worst scene, however, is where the seemingly honourable Jill fakes a sexual harassment scene at school to get a lecherous antique dealer off her metaphorical back. This plays into the hands of those who believe that all such cases are make believe. It jars on every level.
Given that Australians now spend an average of $39,000 on a wedding ($6,500 an hour), Second Hand Wedding might be a portent of things to come - Richard Leonard, Australian Catholic Office for Film & Broadcasting.
Starring Geraldine Brophy, Patrick Wilson, Holly Shanahan, Ryan O’Kane, Tina Regtien and John Rowles. Directed by Paul Murphy. Rated PG (mild themes and infrequent coarse language). 94mins.
http://www.catholic.org.au/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=1757:fr-richard-leonard-sj&catid=100:film-reviews-2010&Itemid=376