Shopping

Having won many international awards for their shorts Run and Six Dollar Fifty Man, this New Zealand writing-directing duo opt for a similarly original approach to storytelling in their first feature-length drama. Shopping is set in New Zealand in 1981, an awkward time for immigrants from the Pacific islands. The police are far from friendly and the population is largely hostile, both of which Willie is painfully aware. He is a 'coconut', meaning brown outside and white inside because he has a Samoan mother and a white New Zealander father. Local boys won't have anything to do with him and he doesn't really belong to the Samoan community either. Willie finds little support at home. His father is irascible and his mother often helpless. Willie's little brother Solomon, who is a bit of a dreamer, is Willie's only comfort. Things begin to look up for Willie when the charismatic boss of a gang of notorious 'shoppers' decides to take him under his wing. The gang's nights can get pretty wild and knives flash from time to time. Willie now has cash and sports sunglasses and a leather jacket. But can he leave his little brother at home alone?