This review may contain spoilers!
Most of this film feels like a cheesy extended tourist ad for Samoa. I would give Three Wise Cousins a 2.5/10.
In the last fifteen minutes of this film we're finally presented with a display of fantastic writing that exposes the main protagonist's flaws and leads him on an incredible arc of character growth. I was really impressed with the way this film turned itself around in this last small segment and I wish we had seen this level of quality in the other hour and fifteen minutes. The film also had a great soundtrack and score; it really played in with the location of Samoa and celebrated the cultural influence of the film.
Vesui Viliamu, who played Tavita, was the funniest character in the film; his ability to deliver lines really well was what set him apart from the rest of the cast.
However the best performance came from Vito Vito, who played Mose. Vito delivered a harder character in the film who challenged the protagonist and seemed to be the only role that acted half naturally. I really admired the scenes in which he confronted Amituanai and exposed his flaws; these scenes brought out the potential in the story and raised the quality of the film in my eyes.
This film started incredibly abruptly, there was no lead in at all, you are just dumped in the middle of a scene and swiftly delivered an info dump of character backstory before the opening titles actually roll. The romance story that initially drove this film was flimsy and poorly executed, it felt like a cringe article that you'd read online. Beyond that there is an onslaught of awful jokes throughout the film that consistently fail to land, worse than that is the continous return to slapstick physical humour that is practically begging for laughs. This film spends so much time trying to decide if it's a rom-com, a character story or an exploration of Samoan culture that it completely loses sight of it's plot and it's pacing; what you wind up with is a film that is under an hour and a half that crawls. The cinematography is sloppy work, this has a visual style that looks as if it were shot by a high school film student. The editing isn't much better, the film is riddled with sudden cuts and awful transitions.
Neil Amituanai, who played Adam, is such a cringeworthy awful protagonist in this film; he's running about carrying out downright terrible slapstick comedy while portraying one of the most dislikeable characters I've seen this year. Gloria Ofa Blake, who played Mary, is an actress I felt sorry for in this film because she's ultimately playing a fantasy; writing a woman up as an object to be obtained is weak writing and I think storytelling should be beyond this by now.
Thanks for this review... either you get it or you dont...which sounds like you never got the true meaning to Samoan culture. You sound educationed but ignorant...its ok the world is full of people like you which keeps the world spinning!!!!thanks for this again!!!
ReplyDeleteI appreciate your comment but I think you fail to understand what I'm saying. It was very clear this film had a strong cultural message but the weak script and rather basic characters meant that this message was lost to what was ultimately a disappointing film.
DeleteCiaran Knight, This was a film that was filmed in Samoa and NZ, he 2 countries which cultures were exposed in some way, just like films shot in other foreign countries. I wondered if you got the script at all, it was about Wisdom and respect, the chase for Mary was the instigator that eventually taught this NZ born Samoan, what wisdom and respect is, but taught it in the Samoan way as was required to win Mary's heart. These principles, are alive and well in NZ & Aust, USA etc. Point being, that every culture knows this. I am sad to see you use the word Disappointing, You may call me bias because I am Samoan, but due to the fact that you do not know anything about this culture, paints you as an ignorant person. How would you view an Indian Film that made it to the Australian Film Market? you would probably try your hardest to understand that culture or the concept of the title before you make a review (seeing India has a billion folks and has more exposure/standing in the film industry - just guessing what a person like you might do in that situation). And I wonder how you would rate this film if "The Rock" was the main character? (The whole writing would probably be only about the Rock's character? - just guessing again) I give this film a 9 on the following reasons: 1. Entertaining, 2. Family Friendly 3. Script & Plot Lead Up and 4. Positive Message delivered. The lead up in the script is what I call "That's Entertainment". You mentioned that the last 15 minutes of the film revealed the punch line, Yes, even I wanted to strangle Adam's neck for being so Clueless. But, the subtitles were there when they spoke Samoan? and the comedy throughout was good clean fun. Or maybe the comedy was different to what you see as a good movie. I dislike movies with profanity, and sex scenes. But that's just me, a person who rates the principles that this movie are based upon high. The slow lead up was spot on due to NZ born kids disliking the Samoan chores when they get to Samoa. So, for this film to portray very well, the following. Taking a boy that was born and raised in NZ to come back to Samoa, and still after teaching him, did not get the point, until he went back to NZ and now put in perspective everything taught to him by his cousins in Samoa, remembering the sacrifice of his Elders, and the sacrifices by families in Samoa, and also realising the opportunities in NZ, and then finally became a winner at the end, not only in gaining wisdom, but also in getting the girl. Was a well thought out and executed film. And having people running back to the cinema again to watch it for a second time, is a Winning Film in any level. Ciaran Knight, You are disappointing. V. Kava, Brisbane, Australia
ReplyDeleteI'm glad you put a lot of thought into why you liked this film and that's great. In fact I feel with every film people are going to disagree and that's fine. I enjoyed the cultural aspect of this film and I certainly thought the themes and character development of Adam was great by the end. However I see around 100 films a year on average; these include New Zealand, Australian, Korean, Chinese, British, and American films usually though I have seen a few films from cultures beyond even these before. I rate my film's on technical aspects such as how good a plot is universally, how are the characters, is the film visually appealing? Three Wise Cousins didn't tick a lot of boxes for me but it has for others, that's the movie going experience my friend. And to be fair The Rock has Samoan heritage so maybe he would have made the film better, you never know!
DeleteAppreciate the review, although I feel you may have harshley critiqued this movie. I would probably consider myself as a harsh critique when it comes to films, however, This movie was not aimed at a global audience or marketed on a global stage, as this movie was simply aimed towards the younger generation of polynesians or samoans if you will, portraying the cultural values with cheesy but family friendly comedy by first time actors. Most importantly, the message in this film for people of our younger generation (being samoan myself) is simply not to forget your roots and never take for granted your parents who have worked their backsides off in order to give their children a future in a country that provides countless opportunities and resources to gain an education for a better life rather than the harsh typical island life.
ReplyDeleteI will not disagree with you though, on the perfomance by Neil Amituanai as he also made me cringe for most of the film. I rate this 8.5 due to the film being aimed solely for the audience intended for.
Dave. T Melbourne Australia
Hi Dave,
DeleteA truly honest and well argued response. I like what you've said here! Thanks for the response.
Have to admit, it's refreshing to see someone ELSE who didn't exactly gel with this film that much. You put forward some good reasoning and, really, highlighted the majority of the film's issues in a concise manner.
ReplyDeleteAnd, for the record, you weren't too harsh with this film at all. Regardless of budget/release, every officially released film deserves to be held to the same standard. Big budget studio fare can suck just as much independent films can be excellent and vice versa.
Thank you for your understanding and kind words here! I see between 90-130 films in a year and they're not all going to leave me with a strong impression. I love that this film has provided a strong outlet to discuss Samoan culture but in terms of elements of the film itself? I honestly wasn't impressed with some aspects. It's normal, not everyone is going to appreciate the same things.
DeleteYou're right. Some people get it, others don't. Sure this one eyed Samoan will say it was filmed with one camera, with a limited budget, and Samoans support Samoans. But I never went and watched Le Tulafale 3 times, I never even watched Sione's Wedding 2. But there must be something in the story line that got Samoans and other Polynesians out in force to watch this movie multiple times and watching it with their young families and elderly parents. Samoans have a tradition of faleaitu or comedy, which uses slapstick humour, twists it to leave the audience with an important lesson. This is the same for this movie. What appears to be a cheesy love story with jokes galore (dunno about you but every Samoan was laughing their heads off in each movie session I was at) is, as you accurately surmise, turned on its head in the last 15 minutes. This gave the movie its punch for many Samoans. So yeah, it might not hit the mark for the general public or universal themes, but it worked a treat for Samoan audiences and was spot on with a story line that made sense to Samoan humour, thinking and traditions.
ReplyDeleteI think that's awesome. I respect that. Samoan culture deserves to be out there more. As I've said in past comments I didn't like this as a film but from a cultural perspective I think it's amazing that Samoa is expanding and developing it's film culture more and more =)
DeleteKnight,
ReplyDeleteI can't argue with you. I've watch movies for a hobby and some people disliked "Gravity” because it was boring and all she did was float around in space. However, this film by far was the best to ever come out of Samoa and that I too cannot argue. We have a long way to go and this is just the beginning. It was hilarious from beginning to end to see how we really act...on the big screen! We all have a Mose, Tavita, and Adam is our lives. I hope that this will just leave us “hit the ground running” and that the next film will have A-list characters from the pacific and a better plot.
The actors did a superb job (I think) because the humor (us fobs for life) is something you do not learn it is second nature to us. So you may have rated this on your own ideological standpoints and experience with other films or plots so low, but we rate it high on the mere fact that they portrayed us all exceptionally well; the film was not meant for you or anyone else to rate but that cannot be helped.
There was not one cultural aspect that was left out. Everything that we are was shown in this film and that was the sole purpose of this film. I just hope that we keep it going from here on out. We want more!!!!
This is a fantastic argument and gives me a lot more perspective on this film so thank you for your explanation Ponita! I know this film made a lot of money and is one of the biggest Samoan films to date so I expect we'll see many more films from Samoa in the future :)
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