Samoan New Zealand director Tusi Tamasese's second feature, One Thousand Ropes, resonates with the same quiet power and restraint of his award-winning debut, The Orator.
One Thousand Ropes may be a little too enigmatic and guarded for some tastes but Tamasese does succeed in bringing all the aspects of the story together and conveying the notion that Maea is at a crossroads.
It combines melancholy domestic drama with spiritual and supernatural elements, and while the latter could have been more robustly developed, a quiet power accumulates nonetheless.
