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Ruby and Rata
Ruby and Rata
Directed by	Gaylene Preston
Written by	Graeme Tetley
Produced by	Gaylene Preston; Robin Laing
Starring	Yvonne Lawley; Vanessa Rare; Lee Metekingi; Simon Barnett
Cinematography	Leon Narbey
Edited by	Paul Sutorius
Music by	Jonathan Crayford
Release date	4 October 1990 (New Zealand);
Running time	109 minutes
Country	New Zealand
Language	English
Budget	NZD $2 million
Box office	NZD $355,000 (New Zealand)

Ruby and Rata is a 1990 New Zealand comedy-drama film, directed and produced by Gaylene Preston.^[2]

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)—a well-dressed, smooth-talking young woman of Māori 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.^[2]^[3]

Cast

Yvonne Lawley – Ruby
Vanessa Rare – Rata
Lee Metekingi – Willie
Simon Barnett – Buckle

Production

Ruby and Rata was filmed in and around the Auckland suburb of Mount Albert.^[4]

It was the second film made by Preston-Laing Productions (Gaylene Preston and Robin Laing), the first being the 1986 horror film Mr Wrong.^[5]

Awards

Ruby and Rata won four awards at the 1990 NZ Film Awards: Best Editing, Best Soundtrack, Best Film Score and Best Performance (Male).^[3]

References

^ "Top Fourteeen New Zealand Movies Released in New Zealand". (issuu pp. 61,64). No. 97–98. Cinema Papers New Zealand supplement. April 1994. pp. 15, 18. Retrieved 7 August 2022.
^ ^a ^b "Ruby and Rata". British Film Institute. 1990. Archived from the original on 27 January 2023. Retrieved 27 January 2023.
^ ^a ^b "Ruby and Rata". NZ On Screen. Retrieved 30 October 2014.
^ Edwards, Helen; Martin, Sam (1997). New Zealand film : 1912–1996 (1. publ. ed.). Auckland [u.a.]: Oxford Univ. Press. ISBN 0195583361.
^ Vieth, Albert; Moran, Errol (2009). The A to Z of Australian and New Zealand cinema. Lanham: Scarecrow Press. ISBN 978-0810863477.