out of the blue Tagged Articles at Cinematical

Well, it's about time. I caught Out of the Blue at Toronto in 2006, and then only because a wonderfully persistent PR guy encouraged me repeatedly to check it out. It wasn't that I didn't want to see it -- Toronto is just a huge fest, and with so many films to choose from, it wasn't on my radar. I was glad I worked it in, though -- the film, about the infamous 1990 Aramoana massacre in the tiny town of Aramoana, New Zealand, had me on the edge of my seat.

The basic gist of the story: One day, seemingly out of nowhere, David Gray, who was born and raised in Aramoana and had known the people living there his entire life, snapped, going on a shooting spree that ended the lives of 13 people, four of them children, before he was shot and killed by police. In retrospect, there were signs that Gray was coming unhinged, but no one who knew him ever thought something like this would happen in their peaceful town.

The film is getting a one-week exclusive engagement at the IFC Center in New York City starting October 17. The film, directed by Robert Sarkies, who grew up in a town near Aramoana and was there at the time of the massacre, was directed with great care to be respectful to the victims and the surviving residents of Aramoana; at the same time it's tense and engaging, and well worth catching in a theater. Catch it while you can.

Out of the Blue, a dramatization of the1990 Aramoana Massacre in New Zealand, when local resident David Gray went on a mad rampage, killing 13 people, including four children, in the small coastal town where he'd lived his whole life, was one of the most riveting films at the Toronto International Film Festival. It was one of those films I hadn't planned to see, but decided to work into my viewing schedule; fortunately, it proved not to be time wasted, as the film is taut, tense and nerve-wracking, while at the same time managing to be respectful toward the victims and the people of Aramoana.

I'm glad to see I'm not the only one who liked this film; the ever-wily Weinsteins have picked up Out of the Blue in a co-acquisition deal with IFC. The film will have theatrical and video-on demand distrib through IFC's First Take and DVD release through Genius products. Out of the Blue is tentatively scheduled to come out in May; we'll keep our ear close to the ground and keep you updated.

Last month at TIFF, I reviewed a film called Out of the Blue, about the massacre that took place in the quiet town of Aramoana, New Zealand in 1990. David Gray, a lifelong resident of the town whose mental health had been deteriorating for some time, snapped and killed 13 of his neighbors, including four young children. The film is extraordinarily well-done and handles the events of that awful day with considerable restraint; even so, it was difficult for me to watch, and I wasn't a part of the tragedy. Director Robert Sarkies, a New Zealander who lived in a town near Aramoana at the time of the massacre, was very aware of the need to be sensitive in making this film, and as part of the process he met with residents, allowed representatives of the victims to read the script before filming began, and agreed to the conditions the people of Aramoana requested, including that he not film within the town itself.

When Sarkies spoke before the screening of his film at TIFF about working with the people of Aramoana in the making of Out of the Blue, and noted that, for the most part, the people who thought the film shouldn't be made were people who weren't directly impacted by the tragedy. Several of the actual survivors, in fact, met with the actors who were playing them. The New Zealand Office of Film and Literature Classification has given the film an "R15" rating, and Chief Censor Bill Hastings has added a descriptive note that "violence and content may disturb."

In Out of the Blue, director Robert Sarkies chronicles the 1990 Aramoana massacre that ripped apart a peaceful New Zealand town. Other parts of the world might have violence and murder, but in this small coastal town where everyone knew everyone else, the worst the local police department had ever had to deal with was small-time break-ins and attacks on sheep by wild dogs. This was a community where children roamed freely on their bikes, neighbors helped neighbors build their houses, and doors were never locked. The town's innocence was forever lost November 13 and 14, 1990, when local resident David Gray (played here by Matthew Sunderland), known to everyone in Aramoana, went on a violent rampage, killing people he'd known and lived near all his life.

Sarkies brings us into the story on the morning of that fateful day, as parents sent children off to school and townsfolk went about their normal business. The camera's perspective takes us back and forth between the locals, the beauty of the pristine New Zealand setting, and the crumbling mind of a man on the brink of a murderous breakdown. The film is tautly directed, easing the audience into the languid pace of day-to-day life as it was in Aramoana before the shootings, and gradually increasing the tension as events progress.