Filled with beautiful sound and movement, Cousins is a small scale film that manages to slowly and quietly devastate with its large scale themes of displacement, identity and belonging. Cousins bubbles over with emotion; an understanding and empathy for three woman built as the film moves between three timelines. Directors Ainsley Gardiner and Briar Grace-Smith (who also stars) do a brilliant job in taking what would be perceived by the outside world as an innocuous story, and making it and its occupants matter.

2021

Gorgeous movie. New Zealand always manages to put so much heart and charm into their films, this story of 3 cousins and their strong connection to each other and their land was wonderful. There are multiple timelines and stories going at once but it all feels so seamless and flows so smoothly. Strong performances by all, the child actors were fantastic, a standout is Rachel House, who managed to bring quite a few laughs whenever she was on screen. The scenery was so beautiful too. A great film.

is there a single corner of the world that hasn't been made significantly worse by the British?

Masterfully dealing with it's theme of intergenerational trauma leading to cultural loss - Cousins is the best and most important Aotearoa (New Zealand) film to come out in years. Skilfully directed by Ainsley Gardiner and Briar Grace Smith and also brilliantly written by Briar Grace Smith and Patricia Grace (who wrote the novel the film is based on). Following the lives of Cousins Mata, Missy and Makareta from childhood to late adulthood it's story is effectively brought to screen through a non-linear narrative. It's a sad but incredibely beautiful film that has so much love and respect for it's main characters and is a great representation of Maori Culture. It's absolutely among the best films that shows us the true power and importance of Whanau (Family) and the cinematography by Raymond Edwards is incredible, I was in awe throughout.

my heart has been ripped out of my chest

Surely gotta be the most important and sure-handed NZ film about inter-generational trauma. This film is epic in scope with a stunning attention to detail and it is full of the deep old love.

To all of the wahine involved in the making of this film, thank you for bringing this beautiful, painful story to the big screen. The amount of te reo spoken throughout was wonderful to hear. I long for more of this in cinema.
The female voices were beautiful. The male characters were acting in ways that we don't often get to see on screen. I was pained by my preconceived ideas of what I thought some of those male characters *might* do, and grateful that I was wrong. Every single face on screen was captivating. Beautifully shot. The soundscape, the soundtrack, all of it moving. Cinema that moves you. More please.

A very serious film and, in patches, quite moving. But it's too busy, never sitting still. For a film that runs just over 90 minutes there's enough story and tragedy for at least three pictures or, most certainly, a mini-series. The main problem is that the direction is far too fussy for what is an incredibly complex, multi-generational saga that constantly shifts time periods. Worth seeing, however, for as a bonus there are a number of exceptional performances.

Good thing I didn’t watch this at the cinema huh because I was full on loudly sobbing. Absolutely incredible to see Māori stories done SO WELL. My kuia’s house was also that shade of green so that made me cry! When she read the dissertation about Te Tiriti I cried! I cried for most of the movie!