Dean Spanley

Rating: * * *

Verdict

:

Obscure Edwardian whimsy, but finely filmed and acted

If you're wondering what $3 million of New Zealand taxpayers' money was doing tied up in this obscure piece of Edwardian whimsy, the answer is this: we have a co-production treaty with the UK which, thanks to films such as

River Queen

and

In My Father's Den

, has been working strongly in our favour. It's payback time - and anyway, more than 60 Kiwis got work out of it, including Leon Narbey and Don McGlashan, respectively cinematographer and composer.

Perfectly amiable and utterly pointless, it's an adaptation of a 1936 novella by an Irish baron about a clergyman who, when he drinks tokay, a rare and expensive sweet wine, is transported back to his earlier life - as a dog.

A London gent (Northam) called Fisk Jr - he is not given a first name - takes his cantankerous widower father (O'Toole) to a lecture on reincarnation where they meet the cleric of the title (Neill) and invite him to dinner on the promise of a glass of this botrytised Hungarian sticky.

Spanley is plainly enraptured by the very bouquet of this wine, and it takes only a couple of sips to have him reinhabiting his earlier existence. What impact this has on those around him should not be given away here but it's safe to say that it's a sweet, if somewhat sticky, tale of redemption and friendships renewed.

It's a very accomplished piece of work on many levels - the stellar cast, including Brown as a rough-hewn Ocker procurer of whatever you fancy, are all at the top of their game and Neill, who can be a lugubrious and wooden actor, is plainly relishing the chance to be very playful. O'Toole, nearing the end of a distinguished life, has never been better and Fraser, with Narbey's sure help, serves the actors well.

Ditto the script by veteran Alan Sharp, which makes the absurd vaguely coherent.

The trouble is that it all seems too slight for the talent that has been shovelled into it. For all its charms, it's really little more than a fireside yarn best spun over a glass of that wine. It's hard enough to imagine it making a 40-minute TV film, much less a feature. Here's hoping it's redressed that co-production balance somewhat and our filmmakers can get back to telling New Zealand stories. Pass the tokay.

- Peter Calder

Click here

for photos taken at the Dean Spanley Auckland premier.

Cast

: Sam Neill, Peter O'Toole, Bryan Brown, Jeremy Northam

Director

: Toa Fraser

Running time

: 100 mins

Rating

: G

Screening

: Berkeley (Mission Bay, Botany), Bridgeway, Matakana, Rialto Newmarket, SkyCity (Queen St, St Lukes, Albany)