RUBY AND RATA

New Zealand, 1990, 111 minutes, Colour.
Yvonne Lawley, Vanessa Rare, Lee Metekingi, Simon Barnett.
Directed by Gaylene Preston.

Ruby and Rata is an entertaining New Zealand comedy, a comedy of an odd couple. Yvonne Lawley, veteran New Zealand actress, portrays 83-year-old Ruby. Her nephew is trying to find a suitable tenant for her – and she fears that she will be put in the Golden Age Retirement Home. In the flat downstairs, Ruby sees Rata (Vanessa Rare). She assumes that she is the property dealer – however, Rata is a rock singer with an eighteen-year-old son – who misbehaves. She is trying to evade government interference and inspection.

The film was directed by Gaylene Preston, director of Mr Wrong, Bread and Roses, Home By Christmas, Perfect Strangers and other New Zealand films.

An entertainment with the light touch – but an exploration of relationships and the differences between the generations.

1. The blend of the serious and the comic? Observations on human nature – foibles and eccentricities? Humanity and dignity?

2. The New Zealand setting, the city, homes and clubs? Local audiences identifying with the locations? For non-New Zealand audiences? The musical score, the songs?

3. The title and the focus on the two women and their relationship?

4. Ruby, her age? Zooming in on the house? Able, her moods? Memories of the soldier? Her relationship with her nephew? The plan, the interviews? Rata and her hopes?

5. The nephew and his style, the interview, the commission, the plan? The visits? The interaction with Rata? The band, the boy, the relationship? The affair? The management and set-up? His gear? The venue and the failure? Finale and the future?

6. Rata and her son, the job (and real)? The interview? The hopes? The truth? The officer, the work, the phone calls? The clothes? Her hopes, the son and the relationship? Smiling at the interviews? Hostile to Ruby? The music, the noise, the abuse?

7. Ruby, angry, her clashes and spite? The shopping? The Indian? The ladies, the goods, the boy stealing, saving him, the bond with him? Going upstairs, the back stairs, the talk? The chocolate? Dancing, playing? The jobs and the effect on her? Her collapse, the bath, the help?

8. The boy and his life, cheeky, stealing, changing? The effect on him?

9. Rata, her singing, the group and rehearsals? The equipment? The tryout, the clash, the manager, the venue, the flop and the mistakes?

10. Ruby and the coat, the party, going to the performance, running away, returning, collapsing?

11. Rata and her reaction, the boy? Singing? The search? Discovering the truth? The collapse?

12. The plan – the finale – and a future? Insights into human nature and ordinary interactions?