Paki Cherrington
Melanie Fraser has a problem. Her mother, Dr. Janet Fraser, thinks that she can bond with her stepfather by accompanying mom and dad on a simple business excursion to see if a small tour guide company is a good investment for clients. The fact that the trip will take the threesome to the site of a volcano in New Zealand is nothing for Melanie to worry about. Old "Mount Extreme" is inactive and mom is a former volcanologist who should know a safe hill when she sees one. So what's the problem? Answer: somebody forgot to tell the gods in charge of lava control that they were about to host a family therapy session. Mount Extreme decides to live up to its name just in time to make Melanie's quality time with the folks seem like a big mistake.
Set in and around the fictional town of Kapua in 1948, Ngati is the story of a Māori community. The film comprises three narrative threads: a boy, Ropata, is dying of leukaemia; the return of a young Australian doctor, Greg, and his discovery that he has Māori heritage; and the fight to keep the local freezing works open.
Monica arrives back from her big overseas experience to find her boyfriend Nick unchanged. Although Nick styles himself an artist, he is really something of a cultural redneck, and when the couple head up north for a break, and they meet up with Riki, a poet, who is rather less shallow and charming.
