Rent Vigil (1984)
3.5 of 5 from 53 ratings
1h 30min
- General info
- Available formats
- Synopsis:
- A stranger appears in a remote New Zealand farmland at the exact time a farmer accidentally falls to his death. The mysterious outsider grows close to some of the dead man's family, to the point where he and the widow become lovers. But her eleven-year-old daughter, Toss (Fiona Kay), struggling to come to terms with the death of her father as well as her impending womanhood, believes the intruder to be the devil and sets about protecting her family and their homestead.
- Actors:
- Penelope Stewart, Frank Whitten, Bill Kerr, Fiona Kay, Gordon Shields, Bill Brocklehurst, Eric Griffin, Lloyd Grundy, Emily Haupapa, Josie Herlihy, Bill Liddy, Sadie Marriner, Bob Morrison, Debbie Newton, Joseph Ritai, Arthur Sutton, Rangitoheriri Teupokopakari, Maurice Trewern, Snow Turner
- Directors:
- Vincent ward
- Producers:
- John Maynard
- Writers:
- Graeme Tetley, Vincent ward, Fiona Lindsay
- Genres:
- Drama
- Countries:
- New Zealand
- BBFC:
- Release Date:
- 11/06/2018
- Run Time:
- 90 minutes
- Languages:
- English LPCM Mono
- Subtitles:
- English Hard of Hearing
- Formats:
- Pal
- Aspect Ratio:
- Widescreen 1.85:1
- Colour:
- Colour
- BLU-RAY Regions:
- B
- Bonus:
- Brand-new appreciation by film critic Nick Roddick, recorded exclusively for this release
- On-set report from the long-running New Zealand television programme Country Calendar
- Extract from a 1987 Kaleidoscope television documentary on New Zealand cinema, focusing on Vigil and Vincent Ward
- Theatrical Trailer
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Reviews (1) of Vigil
Visionary - Vigil review by AER
Vincent Ward is a film director that relies heavily on startling visuals and editing to tell his stories. He is like New Zealand's Terry Gilliam in some respects. Sadly, his career has spluttered along and never quite caught fire. He worked on Alien 3 for ages before walking away (he had the idea of Monks on a wooden planet! Can you imagine?) Vigil was his second film after The Navigator and it's probably his smallest film in scale and it has some powerful sections. However, it begs a lot of questions of the viewer along the way, and it distracts from bonding with the potentially interesting characters. Much is shrouded in mystery and it may take one or two viewings to get under its skin. There are quite a few of these great films from 80s New Zealand that are worth a look like The Quiet Earth, Smash Palace, and Utu. Get involved.
6 out of 10
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