Juniper

As a hard-drinking veteran war photographer, Charlotte Rampling is forced to spend time with her suicidal grandson in the eye-catching wilds of New Zealand.

This film from New Zealand is the work of Matthew J Saville, an actor who here makes his feature debut as writer and director. The story that he has chosen to tell certainly has potential and he also has the benefit of a talented cast. The big name here is Charlotte Rampling. She plays Ruth an elderly woman who has travelled from Britain to visit her widowed son, Robert (Márton Csókás) who lives in New Zealand. Robert’s 17-year-old son Sam (George Ferrier) is told that Ruth, who is hardly a welcome visitor, has come over hoping to aid her convalescence from a fall which has left her with a broken leg (she is in a wheelchair). Robert refers to his mother as being a bitch and we quickly see why. Her imperious and demanding ways immediately lead to conflict between her and her grandson. But then Robert is called away on business and, despite the presence of a nurse (Edith Poor), Sam finds himself having to look after his feisty grandmother. It is only after this that their relationship blossoms in unexpected ways.

Unfortunately, there is a strong sense here of material that never comes into focus properly. Initially the film seems to have quite a sense of comedy with its spirited emphasis on Ruth's outrageous behaviour but, save for one effective scene that relates to her demands for gin, Ruth comes over as irritating rather than as someone to relish in a comic way. However, there are also hints of something much more serious including indications that Sam feels suicidal.  But, despite his mother having died (just how recently is not really clear), nothing is offered that would explain why he should be in such an extreme state. Indeed, the film leaves it until its late stages before elaborating on this and filling in past details that really needed to be touched on earlier for the dysfunctions in the family to come across with their proper dramatic weight. Furthermore, both the nurse and the father are characters that call out to be portrayed more fully to flesh out the story, but the screenplay totally fails to do this.

In the film’s first half, the writing also lacks an effective flow thus causing the film to move abruptly from one scene to another, while in the second the style changes without justification to include three instances of songs being introduced on the soundtrack. Had the film cohered better and had the tone (including variations of it) been more carefully considered (it eventually switches into something not far removed from a sentimental weepie), Juniper might have been worthwhile. But, as it is, the impression is of a cast being let down. As a newcomer, George Ferrier shows enough talent to have deserved better, while Rampling would certainly have been able to make more of her role had Saville shown greater skill in the writing. Good as the actors are, they can't make the people seem real enough to render this a successful drama with credible comic touches. But the failure is Saville’s rather than theirs.

MANSEL STIMPSON

Cast: Charlotte Rampling, Márton Csókás, George Ferrier, Edith Poor, Cameron Carter-Chan, Carlos Miller, Tane Rolfe, Byron Coll, Eryn Wilson, Adam Gardiner, Carlos Rakete, Maaka Pohatu.

Dir Matthew J. Saville, Pro Desray Armstrong and Angela Littlejohn, Screenplay Matthew J. Saville, Ph Marty Williams, Art Dir Mark Grenfell,  Ed Peter Roberts, Music Marlon Williams and Mark Perkins, Costumes Jane Holland and Jaindra Watson.

Sandy Lane Productions/Fulcrum Media France/New Zealand Film Commission-Parkland Entertainment.
94 mins. New Zealand. 2021. UK Rel: 23 September 2022. Cert. 15.