Worth: $14.50
FilmInk rates movies out of $20 — the score indicates the amount we believe a ticket to the movie to be worth
Cast:
John-Paul (JP) Foliaki, Dimitrius Schuster, Michael Falesiu, Onetoto Ikavuka, Lupeti Finau, Ilaisaane Green
Intro:
… the kind of communal experience of pride and joy that the cinema was designed for.
On the 1st of October 2011, a packed crowd assembled in Wellington’s Westpac Stadium to see Tonga take on France in the Rugby World Cup, were treated to a special performance – the worldwide debut of marching brass band Taulanga Ū. A band that, shortly before their time on the world stage, didn’t have any instruments, wouldn’t know how to play them even if they did have them, and were mainly just trying to get seats to the game. This is their story.
Co-written and produced by Taulanga Ū founder Halaifonua Finau, who himself is embodied on-screen by debut actor John-Paul Foliaki as Maka, Red, White & Brass tells this stranger-than-fiction part of Tongan-Kiwi history through the characteristic style of cringe comedy that filmmakers in the region seem to be gifted with. Watching Maka and Dimitrius Schuster-Koloamatangi as Veni, as they basically fail upwards in their attempts to get this band off the ground and onto the stadium, there’s a lot of inspirational sports film energy to go around, and with it, an urge to see these boys somehow make it all work for them in the end. Well, that and incessantly giggling at their double-act antics.
Through an emphatically and unapologetically Tongan lens, the film first displays how these kinds of sporting events bring out a certain flag-waving sense of patriotism on its own, and then brings it round to put this film, the real-life band it’s highlighting, and the Tongan athletes that ended up smashing France all under the same mission-statement: this is their chance to show the world what they’re made of. Even as an outsider looking in, the way that the film shows the importance placed on faith and family within the Tongan diaspora is done with such conviction and heart that it’s easy to get lost in and want to learn more about.
It helps that the soundtrack is absolute fire from beginning to end. The non-diegetic tracks are provided by the NZ reggae fusion band Three Houses Down, whose own thriving horn section and mellow Polynesian rhythms are a sturdy backdrop for a story all about the beauty of the brass. There’s also the in-film band’s rendition of classic pop tunes, which hit on the secret recipe previously used by Beyoncé in 2018, Jacques Slade, THURZ, and El Pérez in 2016, and OutKast in 2006: Rap backed by a well-placed marching band = bangers.
Red, White & Brass is the kind of communal experience of pride and joy that the cinema was designed for. It leans into the well-worn tropes of the genre, but like any great cover, it plays the notes well while still putting its own spin on the classics. Whether you’re wanting to expand your film palette or take your extensive family out to see something of yourselves on the big screen, this is sure to put a polish on your day.
