NOVEMBER STREAMING GUIDE

This month you can stay home and stream some great comedy or celebrate going to the cinema with three exceptional documentary films that are part of this year’s ‘Auckland Live’.

At the Civic Theatre on November 22 Doc Edge is premiering three films: the Emmy nominated The Apollo, (free screening so bookings essential), the world premier of The Man on the Island by local filmmaker Simon Mark Brown, and The Painter and the Thief. Loosely following the documentary genre is the latest iteration by Sasha Baron Cohen, crossing boundaries in more ways than genre, it is a film that reflects a time.

NEON

HornDog Winner of the Edinburgh Fringe Festival, Horndog can now be accessed by even more Kiwis via Neon. “It’s an hour of sensitive comedy by a 27 year old piscean. It’s a silly show about love,” explains Rose Matafeo at the very beginning of the show, which is mostly true. Love is indeed the theme and the view through the lens of this very self-aware woman is totally hilarious. However you get more than that when Matafeo completely redefines the word ‘horny’. It’s also a glimpse into the tricky balance we all try to maintain between success, love and life. It’s always funny but it’s also often insightful in examining the conflicts of modern living and relationships, something we may all find useful this year.  NETFLIX

Cobra Kai This is another great one to share with the kids. If you were ever a fan of Ralph Macchio and the Karate Kid film, this series is the ultimate way to reminisce about the 80s and still keep things relevant. Arch enemies Daniel LaRusso and Johnny Lawrence are given a back-story that will resonate with any original fan and there’s a great story hook for the younger generation. In the first season this drama never fails to please and you can’t help but empathise and root for the Karate Kid’s nemesis, Johnny Lawrence. With the original actors reprising their roles as middle aged men to perfection, these characters are extremely well rounded. As they struggle to reconcile issues from their past, the series oozes an authenticity that makes it even more compelling while always being a fun watch. 

Cobra Kai on NETFLIX

Artefact Series 1 Hosted by Dame Anne Salmond, Artefact is a beautifully shot series that reveals the surprising and sometimes complex historical stories that surround some of Aotearoa’s most interesting taonga. The themes contextualising each episode are designed to make the viewer think, and with a new era of politics some of the questions posed in the first series may have even more chance of being answered. The artefacts in the series all have powerful stories and encourage everyone to consider what kind of world and country we want our children to inherit. 

TVNZ OnDemand

Origins “Join me as I travel across the world and through time,” says host Scotty Morrison as he begins his journey of discovery to find Hawaiki. Over three episodes Morrison opens his mind to see what happens when oral history meets contemporary science. He exposes the mistakes of historians past and explores the stories of our pacific neighbours to reveal more truth than some may imagine. From Rarotonga and Taiwan, to Ethiopia and back to Aotearoa, the audience is taken on an informative and visually inspiring journey in search of an origin, a place where it all began and the connection to Aotearoa. Does the real answer lie with the 3.2 million year old ‘Lucy’ now resting in the National Museum of Ethiopia? Or are there more questions that need to be asked and understood? Educational and entertaining viewing. 

AMAZON PRIME VIDEO

Borat Subsequent Moviefilm Borat returns to the US of A after 14 years of exile. Continuing a style of comedy that made him a household name, Sacha Baron Cohen continues to push the boundaries and surprise the audience with his incredible audacity. It is hard to tell where reality begins and fiction ends but that is possibly part of the point. When Borat was last unleashed on America his stunts and opinions seemed shocking; this time the people he targets are almost too scary to be real. While there are a few cringe worthy comedy moments, the social commentary that underlines the film is disturbingly accurate. 

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I have followed New Zealand elections since 1954 when as a schoolboy in Whangarei I supported my cousin, Don (later Sir Donald) McKay to become the National Party MP for Whangarei.

My family were farming stock, and my grandparents on my mother’s side were founding members of the National Party.

66 years and 22 elections later, I saw a remarkable victory by Jacinda Ardern’s Labour Party. The first outright victory of the MMP era.

My pre-vote prediction was close, but although my National days are long gone and I am a Green Party member, I thought Chlöe Swarbrick might fall short.

As the old Meat Loaf song goes — Two out of three ain’t bad — we’ve got Helen White on the Labour list. I’m sure the young National candidate, Emma Mellow, will soon have her day.

But Auckland Central was a Chlöe sensation. Post election I have already heard glowing comments about her potential as the MP for one of the most important seats in the country. Her sharp intellect, ability to analyse problems, command of sound bites, will be valuable assets during the next three years.

The three-year term already under her belt has shown her mature, learn to listen better, and gain extensive knowledge of major issues facing New Zealand and the world.

Chlöe Swarbrick, in contrast to most National Party politicians is a woman for now, for the times, not a yesterday’s person. If Labour tries to be too centrist, it will be up to Chlöe and her green colleagues to pull her back to the left, where all the international action on climate change, black lives matter, immigration, fossil fuels, species extinction and environmental degradation, is happening. Labour needs the Greens, and they ignore them at their peril.

We also have a very capable Helen White as a Labour list MP. Helen will be a good entre to Labour ministers, and I expect she and Chlöe will work somewhat in tandem on some issues. The assault on cars goes on in central Auckland. I have said time and time again that cycling is healthy and pollutionfree. Walking is good for one’s health too, but the end of cars is still some time away. Maybe petrol cars will go soon. I spoke to several residents of Islington Street, Ponsonby who are angry at AT. They are happy to have resident parking permits in their street. Commuters from the fringes of Auckland who used to park all day in Islington Street are gone. But recently, this street has been hit by zealous random ticketing. Cars parked on entrances to homes, where large, wide berms make disruption minimal, have been ticketed citing a City bylaw of 2004. One of the angry residents told me she had lived there 18 years and never been ticketed before. “Are they a bit short on revenue,” she asked. None of the cars of these residents ever obstructed other vehicles, cyclists or pedestrians. These people maintain their own berms (owned nevertheless by the council), and park only in their own driveways, never on the berms. The home owners Ponsonby News spoke to explained that they Of course National will have a serious postmortem, and they need to, but just now they seem to be in some denial about exactly what caused their defeat. Covid played a part, because Jacinda handled the pandemic to international acclaim. But National, many of them older white males, are living in yesterday’s New Zealand. The same is happening in Australia, the UK and the USA; tired old white governments. Let’s hope some of National’s front bench, largely now list MPs, do the decent thing and retire.

How exciting to see the youth and diversity of our new MPs. Sixteen of Labour’s 22 newbies are women, and an impressive line up for Jacinda to corral. Not that I think loyalty will be any issue. These newbies are there largely because of Jacinda Ardern.

Just a word on Winston. I’ve known him for nearly 50 years, and he’s always been a likeable rogue. He was a good Foreign Minister, but his time is up; off fishing to Whananaki Winnie.

I’ll miss Nikki Kaye, too, although she knows I never voted for her. She tried to get me to join the blue-greens and I tried to get her to cross the floor a couple of times. Go well dear friend.

So that’s it. Now the mahi, as they say, begins apace.

Congratulations to the winners, especially Chlöe as MP and Helen as list MP. I know you’ll both do us proud in the halls of power.

John Elliott: Auckland Transport - at it again

(JOHN ELLIOTT)  PN understood that Ponsonby streets differed greatly, and they said they knew cars on John Street had to park partly on their berms or emergency vehicles had no chance of getting through.

Islington Street is wide and spacious, they maintained. There should be a flexible programme to manage city vehicles. One called the current policy, “pick and mix, random decisions”.

They pointed out that the Franklin Road upgrade had included parking pads for residents.

“They know my rego”, one woman told me. “It’s registered for my parking permit. They know I’m parking outside my own home.”

Once again the virtually autonomous CCO, Auckland Transport, has proved dictatorial and uncompromising. This must change.

We need much more bottom-up citizen involvement if our city is to grow harmoniously and we are to enhance the sense of community and not destroy it. (JOHN ELLIOTT)  PN