Broken
English
(1996)
OK,
haven't been to New
Zealand in a while, so
let's do so.
Broken English is a
New Zealand drama made
in the aftermath of
Once Were Warriors and
hitting on similar
themes. Nina
(Aleksandra Vucjic,
startlingly good on
debut) is a early 20s
girl who has settled
comfortably into
Auckland after leaving
war-torn Croatia. The
head of the family is
Ivan (Rade Serbedzija,
always good), a brutal
man who is pissed off
he is in New Zealand
and not at home. He
rules the family with
an iron fist, but Nina
has a soft spot for
feisty Nina. During a
particularly volatile
night, Nina goes off
the work at a Chinese
restaurant and spies
Eddie (Julian
Arahanga) the new cook
and instantly falls
for him. They have a
whirlwind romance
which leads to Nina
leaving home to live
with Eddie. She also
becomes involved in a
sham marriage for a
friend so that they
can get citizenship
and she can get some
fast money. When the
family have a party,
Nina invites Eddie and
friends and this
doesn't end well at
all as Eddie decides
to leave Nina and go
back home. Oh, and
Nina is pregnant and
when she visits him in
his home town and they
get back together and
all this is not going
to please daddy, who
will go to desperate
measures to 'save' his
daughter. But, Eddie
isn't leaving Nina
without a fight.
Superb drama with
excellent performances
all round that
bizarrely has an NC-17
rating in America.
Yes, the sex scene is
full on, but it's
hardly explicit...
Aleksandra Vucjic's
career is an oddity.
She only made 4 films
including her
fascinating debut and
2 of those are dicey B
American thrillers and
the other one, Dear
Claudia, is a long
forgotten Australian
desert island romantic
comedy where she
matches surprisingly
well with Bryan Brown.
Must've gotten a
better offer elsewhere
I s'pose. Oh, by the
way, Dear Claudia will
be the Australian
Classic for this week,
a film not available
on DVD in this
country.
Aleksandra
Vucjic film clips
(collages below)

"Look"
(season1)
Sharon
Hinnendael film
clips (collages
below)
'
Sharon Hinnendael and Ali Cobrin film clip
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