RUBY AND RATA

Rights Information
Year
1990
Reference
F22164
Media type
Moving image
Item unavailable online
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Rights Information
Year
1990
Reference
F22164
Media type
Moving image
Item unavailable online
Place of production
New Zealand/Aotearoa
Categories
Feature
Duration
1:49:00
Production company
Preston - Laing Productions
Credits
Cast: Yvonne Lawley
Cast: Vanessa Rare
Cast: Lee Mete-Kingi
Cast: Simon Barnett
Director: Gaylene Preston
Producer: Robin Laing
Producer: Gaylene Preston
Writer: Graeme Tetley
Director of Photography: Leon Narbey
Editor: Paul Sutorius
1st Assistant Director: Chris Graves
2nd Assistant Director: Jessica Hobbs
Musical Director: Jonathan Crayford
Production Designer: Robert Gillies
Costume Designer: Ngila Dickson
Funded By: New Zealand Film Commission

“Ruby is old. Rata is young. They seem to have nothing in common... except for Willie. Maybe he'll be the peacemaker in their domestic warfare. 

“The small downstairs apartment is a dream come true for Rata (Vanessa Rare), and Ruby (Yvonne Lawley) encourages her agent to rent it to the suitable young businesswoman she sees from her window. With a helpful and friendly tenant to keep an eye on her, Ruby is sure she can ignore plans to have her moved to the Sunset Villas reitrement home. But nothing is as it seems. Far from being a businesswoman, Rata is a mistress of disguise - practised in welfare fraud, a would-be rock singer and mother of eight-year-old Willie (Lee Mete-Kingi). Neither is Ruby the kindly child-minder Rata anticipated. Willie wants nothing to do with the "old witch" upstairs. And Buckle (Simon Barnett), the agent who is really Ruby's nephew in disguise, soon finds both women more than a match for him. From the ensuing clash of personalities and generation, emerges a story told with humour, warmth and charm - of two determined and manipulative women who have more in common than they realise ...” - New Zealand Film Commission; www.nzfilm.co.nz/film/ruby-rata; 27/01/2014.