Ruby and Rata

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

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

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.

Cast

Production

Ruby and Rata was filmed in and around the Auckland suburb of Mount Albert.[1]

It was the second film made by Preston-Laing Productions (Gaylene Preston and Robin Laing), the first being the 1986 horror film Mr. Wrong.[2]

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]

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References
  1. Edwards, Helen Martin ; Sam (1997). New Zealand film : 1912–1996 (1. publ. ed.). Auckland [u.a.]: Oxford Univ. Press. ISBN 0195583361.
  2. Vieth, Albert Moran, Errol (2009). The A to Z of Australian and New Zealand cinema. Lanham: Scarecrow Press. ISBN 0810863472.
  3. "Ruby and Rata". NZ On Screen. Retrieved 30 October 2014.


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