Film review: ‘HEAD SOUTH’ by Nick Gardener from ‘Built For Speed’

Our Kiwi cousins are renowned for punching above their weight with sporting success, Russell Crowes and musical superstars like Split Enz and Crowded House. New Zealand also has a thriving post-punk and alternative music scene largely based around the famed Flying Nun record label. Before that, was a small but energetic punk scene in the 1970’s. The erratic, undercooked but endearing New Zealand romantic comedy/drama Head South delves into the nascent Kiwi punk and post punk scene at very much a grassroots level.

Set in Christchurch in 1979, the film follows the bumbling escapades of the supremely nerdy school boy, Angus (Ed Oxenbould). Trying to cope with his parent’s separation and his dad (Martin Csókás) morose moods and mordant sarcasm, he pursues various fantasy lives. At first he claims to be a surfer but promptly abandons that when his brother sends him a Public Image Ltd single from London. Determined to inveigle himself into the music scene and possibly start his own band, Angus begins hanging out at the local epicentre of cool, Middle Earth Records.  There, he becomes involved with various characters sharing similar dreams including would-be guitarist Kirsten (Kiwi musician Benee) and dodgy, alleged London ex-pat Holly (Roxie Mohebbi). When Angus scores a gig as support for a local punk act, he has to deal with couple of small matters, first, he can’t play a note and second, he doesn’t have a band.

This film’s extremely quirky low-budget style at first comes across as a bit too amateurish, almost like a student film.  Eventually, we acclimatise to its oddball, low-fi tone a little like we did with Clerks back on the 90’s.  The film also briefly recalls recent British movies like Sing Street but with that uniquely droll Kiwi character.  Thankfully, though, it avoids the excessive pisstaking approach of a Taika Waititi film. There are, however, some odd scripting issues here as the film strangely introduces but then fails to fully explore the consequences of some serious events such as people dying, Holly being subjected to domestic violence and at one point Angus being forced to model for illicit photos.

While there are some noticeable flaws in this film, it mostly works because of its empathetic central character Angus.  Oxenbould is wonderfully dorky here with his mop of 70’s hair and perpetual look of innocent befuddlement.  Fortunately, though, he doesn’t overplay the character’s quirks. While his seemingly unending capacity for creating disasters and dropping himself in large piles of excrement is frustrating, he’s someone we want to see come out on top.  The supporting characters, however, are a little underdeveloped so, despite tantalising hints of fine performances, there is not quite enough there for us to fully connect with them.  Consequently, some of the intended dramatic and emotional high points don’t land the way they should.

Not surprisingly the film has a decent soundtrack with a score and song selections from the era by Straitjacket Fits’ Shayne Carter.

This is a small film that doesn’t always hit the mark but it’s a mostly charming and sometimes genuinely funny homage to the transformative power of music and the roots of the Kiwi post punk scene.

Nick’s rating: ***

Genre: Drama/ Comedy.

Classification: MA15+.

Director(s): Jonathan Ogilvie.

Release date: 27th Mar 2025.

Running time: 99 mins.

Reviewer: Nick Gardener can be heard on “Built For Speed” every Friday night from 8-10pm on 88.3 Southern FM.

 

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