Smash Palace
National Library Building, 70 Molesworth Street, Thorndon, Wellington
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Screening as part of the “Films that shaped New Zealand – Celebrating 120 Years of Cinema” series.
"After the break-up of his marriage, a racing driver sets out to get back his daughter – at any cost."
Described by many film critics as the "masterpiece" of the 1980s new wave of New Zealand films, Roger Donaldson’s second feature film was a commercial success, establishing him as a world-class director and Bruno Lawrence as New Zealand’s leading man. Initially released to a positive reception overseas it also helped New Zealanders get over the cultural cringe of seeing home-made films at the movies.
"We literally see an affable, intelligent man driven mad. And not mad in the funny, cuckoo sense, but mad in the obsessed way that so many people seem to go during the process of separating. There is a rigorous fidelity to modern experience in this movie, and it’s not what you’d see if you lived next door to these people, because with Donaldson’s help, Bruno Lawrence makes his emotions transparent..." – Pauline Kael, "The New Yorker," May 31, 1982.
"'Smash Palace' is a thoroughly remarkable and commercial drama about human beings. Superbly constructed and paced, it is the story of marital break up which erupts into an impulsive kidnapping of a child by its father and a totally believable escalation to the brink of tragedy.” – "Variety," September 2, 1981.
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