Amarbir Singh/NZ/2004; R0
Indipact, NZ$25 | Reviewed by John Spry

1Nite exposes the Big City Life; its story based around one of the country’s most infamous inner-city streets. Selected for the 2004 New Zealand International Film Festival, and now available on DVD, the film gathers New Zealand locations, producers and artists together to tackle the urban milieu in an honest and forthright manner.

Amarbir Singh’s film is of relatively simple design – a character study open to revelations and stories of the past. However, it is the multilayered narrative of 1Nite that proves most challenging, handled well enough by a director making his feature debut. Singh employs a fluid editing style that brings the film together in its closing scenes – a technique that lends itself to the organic growth of the film’s dialogue and settings, something that might’ve otherwise gotten away from the filmmaker.

1Nite is set in and around central Auckland’s Karangahape Road (K Road), following a disparate group of locals who experience what will be for most a night of truths and revelations involving friends, acquaintances and themselves. Throughout, we sit in on two old friends catching up for a drink; one laid off work earlier in the day, the other self-righteous and self-glorifying in his attempt to help. We meet a girl and guy in the midst of a break up; she tells him he’s manipulative, he later runs into an ex-policeman who beat him as a youngster, spurring retribution. We also encounter another guy and his girlfriend; she’s a prostitute, something he has great trouble dealing with.

In the best segment of the film, we’re introduced to Rajender, a Sikh who is being interviewed for a documentary about immigrants. Sharing a house with his wife and relatives, he’s plagued with doubt about himself and his religion in a foreign country, struggling to come to terms with his life socially and financially. Driving his taxi around Auckland, he’s exposed to the light and dark side of New Zealand and Western society. This is most apparent when he explains how he was propositioned by a woman whilst taking a fare. In a scene where he attempts to be intimate and is spurned by his wife, he frustratingly seeks out a prostitute to tame his desires.

The film’s narrative intercuts from one group to another as plot strands are revealed, while the geographic location remains for the most part in the vicinity of K Road. Observing the film on a superficial level and bearing in mind the possible influences that abound, 1Nite could be considered a New Zealand-version of a Paul Thomas Anderson or Robert Altman film, but without the narrative complexity and sureness of direction. That this comparison can be made is not a bad thing, and demonstrates that the filmmakers have strived for an earnest film that reflects different aspects of society and its related pressures. There’s also a John Cassavetes feel to the film that is hard to overlook when dealing with the low-budget, close group collaboration evident in a production of this sort.

1Nite’s metro, noir-ish locale demands a certain “look” of the city – an aesthetic reminiscent of the darkness, wetness, coldness, and loneliness of a thousand city stories. The Auckland witnessed here is dark, illuminated by either artificial lighting or low daylight, and is reflective of the city’s different moods; either vacant or full of people, it’s presented in a kind of recovery mode which sets the city up again for another night of stories. When the characters’ traits merge with the city – haunted pasts, changed futures and unknowing outcomes – Auckland becomes a living, breathing, reacting and changing (if not organic) entity.

The film boasts a mixture of experienced actors and newcomers. It’s great to see Bruce Hopkins – fresh from the massive Lord of the Rings films – playing a Kiwi “bloke”, the sort one is likely to bump into, or even know personally. Also present is well-known actor Jon Brazier, who does a fine job portraying an ex-cop with a chip on his shoulder, and paradoxically, also a little too trusting as his night turns on its head. What’s most refreshing though is to see a film made in New Zealand, almost entirely by New Zealanders, with New Zealand financing. Check out the producer’s website below – it is rare to see people put their money where their mouth is, no matter how small or large the production is. Needless to say, it is not unknown for smaller features to grow in reputation with strong word of mouth, and potentially, for subsequent projects to follow. With the advent of DVD technology, this is even more so; for proof, visit Real Groovy to purchase a copy of 1Nite. With this in mind I say congratulations to Bruce, Amarbir and everyone else involved in the film, and for making a feature that promises much. I look forward to your future projects.


THE DVD is navigated via a simple menu screen befitting of the film, with great picture and sound quality. Shot nocturnally and on digital video, the film’s visuals translate as if witnessing events for the first time. Despite being set in New Zealand’s largest city, there is a personal imbuement to the film indicative of a modern (as opposed to a postmodern) narrative; one as once visceral as it is objective. Deleted scenes are included on the disc, illustrating that for all digital video’s affordability – a tendency to over-shoot being one such by-product – it is still possible to trim a film suitably for prospective audiences.