Review by Emily Craig (@emillycraig)
Directed by: Rene Naufahu
Starring: Beulah Koale, Calvin Tuteao, Joseph Naufahu, Joy Vaele, Sophie Huybens
I like this film a lot! The director had extreme struggles in funding the film and so I’m really pleased that it turned out as good as it has. The acting is phenomenally good; Koale gives an extremely realistic and delicate performance as vulnerable Minka and the director’s brother Joseph Naufahu is outstanding as Pinball.
The Last Saint is a gritty crime drama from New Zealand, set in the city of Auckland, and is the first feature length film from actor turned director Rene Naufahu. The plot follows teenager Minka (Beulah Koale) as he turns to his drug dealing, strip club owner father Joe (Calvin Tuteao) as he desperately needs to find cash to pay for meth addicted mother Lia (Joy Vaele) to be clean. Along Minka’s journey into the P infested underground of Auckland, he meets some interesting characters including neighbour and love interest Zoey (Sophie Huybens) and P dealer and user, psychotic dancing Pinball (Joseph Naufahu).
I like this film a lot! The director had extreme struggles in funding the film and so I’m really pleased that it turned out as good as it has. The acting is phenomenally good; Koale gives an extremely realistic and delicate performance as vulnerable Minka and the director’s brother Joseph Naufahu is outstanding as Pinball – he gives a real edge to the film and his scenes where he is drugged up on methamphetamines show the devastating effects the drug can have on someone’s personality. The soundtrack is awesome, too, with a lot of techno tracks to accompany the gritty backdrop.
Although good, the film isn’t without flaws. I found that the film tried too much to divert away from the main story and concerned itself with trying to be a love story and a family drama. I much preferred the more gritty scenes, especially those concerning Pinball and Minka’s mother Lia; what Rene Naufahu is good at is creating intensity in those dark scenes and so this is what I felt he should have stuck with. There are also a few lighting issues in the film but I think with a much bigger budget this would have been avoided. These issues don’t take anything away from the heart of the film and I still felt as though I was watching an extremely realistic film.
The plot isn’t anything new - it’s a good boy that’s gotten mixed in with the wrong crowd - however, the story is extremely relevant to the city of Auckland as methamphetamine is a drug that is very prominent there. I’ve never seen this type of story in a film from New Zealand and so I applaud it. Hopefully next time Naufahu directs, he won’t have so many funding issues, as I believe the man is capable of some very exciting things.
