Florian Habicht/NZ/2003; R0
Pictures for Anna, NZ$29.95 | Reviewed by John Spry

WITH Woodenhead, Florian Habicht has created a visual snapshot of the Northern portion of New Zealand and integrated this with a "cut and paste" folk story from around the world. The story revolves around the two main characters (one could even say caricatures) who, while attempting a very simple task of travelling from one town to another end up loosing themselves in a greatest hits of well known folk stories. They move through and around such stories as Hansel and Gretel, Goldilocks and even Jack and the Beanstalk.

The plot of the film is one of necessity in which the town garbage man (and hero) Gert, is ordered to escort Princess Plum, the daughter of his boss (the owner of the town dump), to her wedding in a neighbouring town. What follows is a unique road-trip through the in-between hinterland of New Zealand. A place on first impressions untouched by human hands, except for the barb wire fences and dirt roads put there to facilitate the journey by way of car or in this case a mule by the main characters, as well as keeping any good story on its course. Christopher Pryor, the film's cinematographer offers a stark black and white landscape which adds to the frontier feeling and folk story itself, by capturing the surrounding country in a uniquely New Zealand way. This struck me as being unique in terms of what an audience sees while viewing a film that is set in one county but for budget reasons is filmed in another. This film is very much the New Zealand landscape on screen.

The narrative told in the film is itself unique in the way characters are introduced and move throughout the story. The most obvious aspect of this is the way in which the on-screen actors dialogue has been replaced by off-screen actors speaking those same parts. This adds to the sense that Woodenhead is standing on its own merits while providing the director with a way of treating any financial obstacle as a choice to illustrate through non-synchronous sound a true fantasy world. While watching Woodenhead I could not help but think of New Zealand director John O'Shea and some of his own films including Broken Barrier (1952) and the way in which the expense of non-synchronous sound lead to a third person narrative instead of the own on-screen actors voices. This technique works well especially in scenes such as Gert and Princess Plum trying to get their own Donkey back and receiving beans in return.

The film as a first feature is original in concept and is carried out with little hint to the viewer that there was not a lot of cash to spare. There is much to recommend the film for cineastes as well as the average film goer in terms of the plot and narrative, but to me its strength is the locations used and the originality in terms of look and sound of the actors.


THE DVD itself can be termed as fully loaded with the features listed below. The film is presented in a letterbox format (4:3) and has little or no blemishes and the sharpness of the picture is no doubt helped by the black and white cinematography.

The audio commentary is by director Florian Habicht and is interesting in terms of low budget film-making in New Zealand and the relative success that he has achieved over the past two years.

In terms of DVD releases I have to say that viewing this title was an absolute pleasure in terms of the relevance of the menus to the actual film. It is time that locally made films that are released here and Internationally put some thought into the menus and the extras themselves to make them not only relevant but interesting to the audience whether a renter or purchaser. This film may be classed as an "art-house" film and have immediate appeal to a smaller audience, but the extras make it more enjoyable and these can lead a wider audience to enjoy the film as well. I look forward to the release of Florian's next film.