Film review: The Map Reader

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This is an odd and vastly likeable micro-budget gem from the Kaipara.

The Map Reader takes us into the life of 16-year-old Michael, an introverted but pleasant young bloke growing up with only his troubled mother and classmates for company.

Michael is obsessed with cartography, and with the idea that his absent dad - a pilot, possibly, but more likely just a lying scallywag - must be somewhere on the maps that fill his walls.

Yes, that sounds like bog-standard coming-of-age tosh. But writer/director/editor Brodie - via a deftly fractured narrative, editing choices that favour character and insight over action, and a script that leaves plenty of white space on the page for the actors to work with - allows The Map Reader to emerge as a rare and special film.

The performances from veterans Rebecca Gibney and Michael Hurst are fine, but Brodie gets his best work from a trio of young stars - Jordan Selwyn and Mikaila Hutchison are both very good, but Bonnie Soper, as Michael's beautiful and blind neighbour is Brodie's hand grenade.

And she blows the roof off this film in every scene she gets.

For Soper's performance, for its smart and unique script, and for a lesson in how to make a good film for about the price of a new car, go see The Map Reader.

Despite its occasional irritations, this is a film with some real heart.

The Map Reader
Director: Harold Brodie
Starring: Jordan Selwyn, Bonnie Soper, Rebecca Gibney
Rated: M
Running time: 92 minutes
Trailer: Flicks.co.nz

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