The initial announcement described the movie as “A documentary about branding, advertising and product placement is financed and made possible by branding, advertising and product placement.” Sounds like an interesting, if not gimmicky, concept.
Taratoa Stappard’s brooding debut feature plunges us into the dour moors of 1859 North Yorkshire, where the British Empire’s reach casts long and twisted shadows. Mary Stevens (Ariāna Osborne), a young Māori teacher from Aotearoa (New Zealand), arrives in search of family truths, only to find the man who summoned her already dead and no clear path home. Stranded in an unfamilia...