Niki Caro Movies
- 2009
A winemaker is coached by a wise spirit in this fantasy set in the early 19th Century, based on a novel by Elizabeth Knox. Sobran Jodeau (Jeremie Renier) is a poor but hard-working man who helps the Comte de Vully (Patrice Valota) grow grapes but hopes to some day oversee his own vineyard and make world-class wine. Sobran is also deeply in love with Celeste (Keisha Castle-Hughes), a lovely women whose family has been touched by emotional instability. One night, Sobran is visited by Xas (Gaspard Ulliel), a guardian angel who offers to help him with his dream of becoming a vintner; Xas pledges to visit Sobran one every year to sample his wine and give him advice. However, Xas warns Sobran that like great art, great wine often is the product of sacrifice and suffering, and with the passage of time Sobran is visited by both kind and cruel fate. Sobran and Celeste are wed, and after the death of the Comte de Vully, his heir the Baroness Aurora de Valday (Vera Farmiga) puts Sobran in charge of the winery. But Sobran's skill alone doesn't produce exceptional wine, and it's not until he's touched by tragedy that he is able to produce a vintage that speaks of a full life. The Vintner's Luck received its world premiere at the 2009 Toronto International Film Festival. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide
A fictionalized account of one of America's most groundbreaking sexual harassment lawsuits comes to the screen in this hard-hitting drama. In the late '80s, Josey Aimes (Charlize Theron) fled her abusive husband, and needed to find a way to support her two children. Aimes returned to her hometown in Minnesota and followed the lead of her old friend Glory (Frances McDormand), who had bucked tradition and found a job in the iron mines that had long provided employment for much of the community. Aimes found honest labor and a living wage working the mines, but she also discovered she was working with men who were uncomfortable working with women (whose right to work in the mines had been mandated by law almost 15 years prior), and didn't care to show them much respect. However, as Aimes found herself the growing target of sexist jokes and abhorrent behavior, she found that many of her female co-workers were reluctant to stand beside her, afraid of losing a good-paying job at a time when they were increasingly hard to find. But as a personal crisis became a public war of words, Aimes became the center of a nationwide controversy when she attempted to file a class action sexual harassment suit against the mine owners, which put her and her family in a position of scrutiny beyond her worst expectations. North Country also stars Sean Bean, Sissy Spacek, and Woody Harrelson. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Charlize Theron, Frances McDormand, (more)
Based on the novel of the same name by Maori writer Witi Ihimaera, Whale Rider is a unique family drama directed Niki Caro. On the eastern coast of New Zealand, the Whangara people believe their ancestor Paikea was saved from drowning by riding home on the back of a whale. The tribal group has since granted leadership positions to the first-born males, believing them to be descendants of Paikea. This tradition is challenged when a young mother dies in childbirth along with her newborn male son. His twin sister manages to survive and the father (Cliff Curtis) runs off, overwhelmed with grief. The little girl, Pai (Keisha Castle-Hughes), is brought up by stubborn grandfather Koro (Rawiri Paratene) and gentle grandmother Nanny (Vicky Haughton). Koro, the chief of their tribe, is disappointed because Pai's twin brother was supposed to be the next leader. Trying to find the proper successor, he attempts to organize a leadership group amongst the local boys while Pai enlists the help of her has-been uncle Rawiri (Grant Roa) to teach herself the art of chiefdom. She appears to possess a natural leadership ability and adventurous spirit that draws her to the proliferation of her faltering tribe. Whale Rider premiered at the 2002 Toronto International Film Festival and won the World Cinema Audience Award. ~ Andrea LeVasseur, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Keisha Castle-Hughes, Rawiri Paratene, (more)
- 1998
Niki Caro directed this romantic drama from New Zealand, adapted from Peter Wells' story, Of Memory & Desire, about the doomed affair of a Japanese couple on their honeymoon in New Zealand. The body of Keiji (Eugene Nomura) is pulled ashore on a New Zealand beach; his widow Sayo (Yuri Kinugawa) then tells the tale in flashback: Attracted to Keiji, Sayo marries him over the objections of his mother (Yoko Narahashi). Keiji becomes depressed when it seems he cannot consummate their marriage. However, they succeed in their hotel room and also later at a beach cave where Keiji carves the word "love" inside the cave before tragedy strikes. In Tokyo, Sayo rebels against Keiji's family. Returning to New Zealand, she suffers mental collapse as she constructs a shrine in the cave. Shown in the International Critics Week section at the 1998 Cannes Film Festival. ~ Bhob Stewart, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Yuri Kinugawa, Eugene Nomura, (more)
