Starring, produced, and written by New Zealand’s gender-diverse community, Rūrangi follows transgender activist Caz Davis as he heads home to the isolated, conservative dairy town of Rūrangi - where no one’s heard or seen from Caz since before he transitioned. There he discovers that his former best friend, his estranged father, and his ex-boyfriend are grappling with their own shifting identities and the consequences of Caz’s disappearance ten years ago.
With the tagline #ByUsAndForUs, Rūrangi is a film made by the LGBTIQ+ community, primarily for the LGBTIQ+ community. In an attempt at proving that the queer community have stories that work well on the big screen, what was originally a five-part web series has now been recut into a single 96-minute feature film.
Rūrangi is a feature that covers a lot of topics that are generally avoided in mainstream media. From trans individuals "coming out" to their families, to the mental effects of abandonment, gender dysphoria, the shame placed on Māori individuals who cannot speak the Te reo Māori language, and the toxic masculinity that stigmatizes the LGBTIQ+ community and contributes to New Zealand's high youth suicide rates.
It is a series of topics that should generate intrigue and make the audience reconsider their assumptions and challenge their perceptions. At least it would if Rūrangi looked into any of these elements in any depth. With only a cursory glance at each topic, Rūrangi serves as not an exploration of commonly misunderstood topics, but a mere introduction.
It comes down to the web format that the film existed in prior. A 20-minute length does not allow for proper investigation and exploration of a theme, especially when you have so many themes concurrently occurring. There isn't enough time, beyond the exposition of explaining what is happening, giving the audience very little opportunity to understand the when, why, who, and how in any reasonable depth.
Trying to maintain so many stories with a coherent story, ends up with all of the interesting elements being whittled down to their bare bones and being fragmented to the point of only being referenced 2-3 times in the entire runtime. A very small window of opportunity for organic development and a payoff.
Despite the minimal coverage, Rūrangi remains an eye-opening experience, about a community that the mainstream media have only recently begun acknowledging, and no doubt many within the gender-diverse community will find something that they can relate to. Rūrangi is exceptionally diverse, with only four main characters, they manage to include trans, gay, lesbian, bi-curious, and straight.
Ignoring the LGBTIQ+ aspect of the film, Rūrangi is a slow-paced feature that is largely lacking in musical compositions. While it plays with deep and dark topics, there is a lack of stakes in the story's narrative, and the drama is short-term and self-inflicted. Our main character Caz (played by Elz Carrad) is stoic, frustrated, and conflicted, but lacks the on-screen charisma necessary to carry the film.
His performance is outshone by that of Jem (Arlo Green). Jem puts on a truly emotional performance that garners sympathy and empathy at every turn. His willingness to look beyond face value and aesthetics is the redeeming feature of the film and the sole reason why Rūrangi is enjoyable.
Ultimately, Rūrangi is still a web series. The writing lacks the depth necessary to create strong enough character development to engage all audience members, the characterizations are caricatures and stereotypes, with every personality trait being linked to the final act in what was meant to be a satisfying payoff.
The ending feels like it was written before the remainder of the story, with turning points and character changes feeling forced and inorganic to reach that ending phase no matter the cost. With a lack of development, fragmented storylines, and an unearned final act, Rūrangi leaves a lot to be desired.
As a starting point for gender diversity in New Zealand film, however, it is a great start. There is nothing overly challenging to the general audience, and Jem's character portrays the anxiety and conflicts that gender diversity conversations raise. It leaves you with more questions than answers, but it normalizes in film, what is normal in the real world. Diverse people.
Rūrangi is in cinemas from February 4th, 2021