''Ruby and Rata'' is a 1990 New Zealand

comedy-drama Comedy drama, also known by the portmanteau ''dramedy'', is a genre of dramatic works that combines elements of comedy and drama. The modern, scripted-television examples tend to have more humorous bits than simple comic relief seen in a typical ...

film, directed and produced by Gaylene Preston.

Plot summary

Ruby ( Yvonne Lawley) is an 83-year-old woman who has just failed her driving test and is worried about her ability to cope with day-to-day life at her age. She asks her nephew Buckle ( Simon Barnett), posing as a real estate agent, to arrange to lease part of the house she owns to a potential housemate to assist her with various chores. The new tenant is Rata (

Vanessa Rare Vanessa Rare is a New Zealand film and television actress, screenwriter and director. She is of Ngāti Pu, Ngāti Porou, Ngāti Pukenga and Ngāpuhi iwi descent. Career Rare's screen debut was as Rata in the 1990 comedy film '' Ruby and Rata ...

)—a well-dressed, smooth-talking young woman of

Māori Māori or Maori can refer to: Relating to the Māori people * Māori people of New Zealand, or members of that group * Māori language, the language of the Māori people of New Zealand * Māori culture * Cook Islanders, the Māori people of the C ...

descent who works for a large finance company. Once she has moved in, it becomes apparent that Rata is actually a cleaner at the firm, has a young son named Willie ( Lee Metekingi), and is in trouble with social services over welfare payments. Rata is also hoping to make it big as a singer in a punk band, The Apocalypse, which is reliant on her accessing the supposed "fortune" of her new housemate/landlady to pay for sound equipment. An unusual relationship develops between Ruby, Rata and Willie, with each of them manipulating the others in some way, but forming a bond and dependence on each other.

Cast

* Yvonne Lawley – Ruby *

– Rata * Lee Metekingi – Willie * Simon Barnett – Buckle

Production

''Ruby and Rata'' was filmed in and around the

Auckland Auckland (pronounced ) ( mi, Tāmaki Makaurau) is a large metropolitan city in the North Island of New Zealand. The List of New Zealand urban areas by population, most populous urban area in the country and the List of cities in Oceania by po ...

suburb of Mount Albert. It was the second film made by Preston-Laing Productions (Gaylene Preston and Robin Laing), the first being the 1986 horror film '' Mr Wrong''.

Awards

''Ruby and Rata'' won four awards at the 1990 NZ Film Awards: Best Editing, Best Soundtrack, Best Film Score and Best Performance (Male).

References

External links

*
''Ruby and Rata''
at NZ On Screen 1990 films 1990s New Zealand films 1990s English-language films Films set in New Zealand Films shot in New Zealand New Zealand comedy-drama films {{NewZealand-film-stub