Ruby and Rata

Ruby and Rata is a 1990 New Zealand comedy-drama film, directed and produced by Gaylene Preston.[2]

Ruby and Rata
Directed byGaylene Preston
Written byGraeme Tetley
Produced byGaylene Preston
Robin Laing
StarringYvonne Lawley
Vanessa Rare
Lee Metekingi
Simon Barnett
CinematographyLeon Narbey
Edited byPaul Sutorius
Music byJonathan Crayford
Release date
  • 4 October 1990 (1990-10-04) (New Zealand)
Running time
109 minutes
CountryNew Zealand
LanguageEnglish
BudgetNZD $2 million
Box officeNZD $355,000 (New Zealand)[1]

Plot summary

Ruby (Yvonne Lawley) is an 83-year-old woman who has just failed her driving test and is worried about her ability to cope with day-to-day life at her age. She asks her nephew Buckle (Simon Barnett), posing as a real estate agent, to arrange to lease part of the house she owns to a potential housemate to assist her with various chores. The new tenant is Rata (Vanessa Rare)—a well-dressed, smooth-talking young woman of Māori descent who works for a large finance company. Once she has moved in, it becomes apparent that Rata is actually a cleaner at the firm, has a young son named Willie (Lee Metekingi), and is in trouble with social services over welfare payments. Rata is also hoping to make it big as a singer in a punk band, The Apocalypse, which is reliant on her accessing the supposed "fortune" of her new housemate/landlady to pay for sound equipment. An unusual relationship develops between Ruby, Rata and Willie, with each of them manipulating the others in some way, but forming a bond and dependence on each other.[2][3]

Cast

Production

Ruby and Rata was filmed in and around the Auckland suburb of Mount Albert.[4]

It was the second film made by Preston-Laing Productions (Gaylene Preston and Robin Laing), the first being the 1986 horror film Mr Wrong.[5]

Awards

Ruby and Rata won four awards at the 1990 NZ Film Awards: Best Editing, Best Soundtrack, Best Film Score and Best Performance (Male).[3]

References
  1. "Top Fourteeen New Zealand Movies Released in New Zealand". (issuu pp. 61,64). No. 97–98. Cinema Papers New Zealand supplement. April 1994. pp. 15, 18. Retrieved 7 August 2022.
  2. "Ruby and Rata". British Film Institute. 1990. Archived from the original on 27 January 2023. Retrieved 27 January 2023.
  3. "Ruby and Rata". NZ On Screen. Retrieved 30 October 2014.
  4. Edwards, Helen; Martin, Sam (1997). New Zealand film : 1912–1996 (1. publ. ed.). Auckland [u.a.]: Oxford Univ. Press. ISBN 0195583361.
  5. Vieth, Albert; Moran, Errol (2009). The A to Z of Australian and New Zealand cinema. Lanham: Scarecrow Press. ISBN 978-0810863477.
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