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16 out of 16 people found the following review useful:
Uniquely Kiwi, 21 April 2001
Author: triblet from Wellington, NZ

As an American living in NZ, I have to say, I can understand both 1) why this quirky, little movie is causing such stir all over New Zealand, and 2) why most Americans will watch it and think "Huh?".

This is not like any movie I've seen before...and certainly nothing like what most Americans are used to shelling out $10 to see. Before watching it, keep in mind it was made on a shoestring budget, and the script was written, piecemeal, while the film was being shot. That's right: there was NO SCRIPT before filming started.

This said, I can say I found this movie fun and refreshing, if a little rough around the edges. It made little sense, but that's part of the ride. Danielle Cormack is the next big thing to watch out for...her face is like no other in Hollywood, she has enormous screen presense, and she's a natural in any role she undertakes. As the female lead in The Price of Milk, she's a joy to watch.

Prepare yourself for an unusual film experience, chalk up the less than polished look of the movie to the low budget and brave experiment of making it up as they went along, and I think you'll enjoy this funny, tender, little film.

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6 out of 7 people found the following review useful:
Fantastic strange film, 13 April 2007

Author: cristina-torres2 from Spain

I have already seen the movie. I found it really complicated to understand and I'm not sure if it was a message there, but I really like it. It was funny,romantic, sad,...all the emotions in one. I got to say this; it's the first time I have seen Karl Urban smiling in a film, he should do it more.

I like the movies that make you think. Our minds need to work hard because in my opinion we are not going for the right way in this world. As the majority we like the cinema, which is the best way to start doing it?

Sorry if somebody has problems for understand me, sometimes it's difficult to express in English my thoughts.

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1 out of 1 people found the following review useful:
It's different without trying to be different, 10 January 2012

Author: leoyoshiyang from Brazil

*** This review may contain spoilers ***

I really thought this was another garbage film from New Zealand, because honestly a lot of them are. I simply wasn't expecting much, especially because of the synopsis "..sets off a chain of events that begins with her quilt being stolen", because it feels really boring. But this is a small lost jewel. It mixes a "love triangle" with some magic, some superstition. But the best in this film is not the romance; the best and the most well-performed genre in the film is the comedy. The actors did a great job, they feel really, really natural for a low-budget film. There's even some black comedy in it. And it's all so damn funny without being irrelevant. This film was a decent idea made into a splendid production.

Maybe nine for the rating is too much, but the film is pretty unknown and I thought that eight would be just too low.

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3 out of 5 people found the following review useful:
Magical realism in New Zealand!, 1 January 2008

Author: Red-125 from Upstate New York

The Price of Milk (2000), written and directed by Harry Sinclair, is a film about love and magic, set in New Zealand farming country.

Danielle Cormack plays Lucinda, a beautiful young woman living on a dairy farm with her lover, Rob (Karl Urban). For reasons not totally clear, Lucinda takes the advice of her friend Drosophila (Willa O'Neill) and does some truly hateful things to determine whether Rob really loves her. (The friend's name is a joke--Drosophila is the Latin word for fruit fly.)

The film is very strange. Apparently, the actors and director hung out on the set and made up dialog and action as they went along. Maori characters appear and disappear, and one of them is a (sort of) kindly witch. This type of effort can be charming, but in this case it didn't work--at least not for me.

"The Price of Milk" had some definite strengths. Danielle Cormack is a sophisticated movie star, but she's able to convince us that she's a simple farm girl who enjoys taking a bath in milk. The scenery is lush and green. The movie is true to itself--it never steps back and says, "OK, now the magical part is over and we get real." There's an Indian wedding ceremony, and an agoraphobic dog that walks around covered by a carton. (How bad can a movie be when an agoraphobic dog is a member of the supporting cast?)

This movie is worth seeing if you run across it. I don't think it's worth seeking out. Incidentally, we saw this film on DVD. The New Zealand scenery would probably be even more beautiful on a large screen.

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4 out of 7 people found the following review useful:
Lactating, 31 August 2009
Author: tedg (tedg@FilmsFolded.com) from Virginia Beach

One of the warmest worlds I visit is the expanded world of Spanish extrareality. It is supported by a whole class of intelligent artists. Though it is potentially rich we usually have this world delivered in order to surround sex in some way not usually available.

I find myself wishing for other filmmakers to use this -- what is usually called magical realism -- in different ways.

Hal Hartley, Atom Egoyan, Guy Maddin, even early Cronenberg Maddin made me hope that a Canadian tradition would sustain a second tradition, one with more powerful emotional abstractions not so dependent on genitals.

Here in New Zealand films, I may have discovered another possible home for my constructive retreats.

This little film tries all sorts of magical things. That they often are unsuccessful and often have no connective logic makes them more attractive, more engaging. All the magic here is cinematic, every device.

Three shots were pretty memorable. One had a long red silk fabric train while our actress walked diagonally across the bright green hill we were by then familiar with. One was when we re-enter the world of physical touch that we had hoped for. Her hand appears from nowhere to caress his head. Very rewarding.

The third is of a different order. I won't describe it in detail but it is the payoff, built up through many images. It is of a young woman reaching for the shod foot of a toddler sticking out of a cloud and not quite reachable. Its really quite lovely.

The woman in question is truly a striking actress, Danielle Cormack, who seems to limit herself to local indie films and stupid TeeVee. Well, she is one of the best mouth actresses I have seen.

I really liked this. It seems to be a voyage through womanhood for men, and I learned.

Ted's Evaluation -- 3 of 3: Worth watching.

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4 out of 7 people found the following review useful:
It's a fairy tale, don't even try to interpret it, 6 February 2004

Author: bbbl67 from Ottawa, Canada

This movie is a fairy tale in the same vein as Alice In Wonderland: extremely psychadelic and not interpretable -- so don't even bother trying to interpret it, there's no point. You drop down a rabbit-hole and life makes no sense anymore. Just sit back and enjoy the wierdness.

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A very quirky New Zealand movie with a dairy farm theme., 30 November 2011
Author: TxMike from Houston, Tx, USA, Earth

*** This review may contain spoilers ***

I found this one on Netflix streaming movies and it seemed interesting. I enjoy watching movies, sometimes just for the experience of seeing how they were made. Or wondering why they were made. This one sort of falls into the latter category. It can be fun to watch, if you have the proper frame of mind.

Rob is a serious, hard-working man in rural New Zealand. He has a large herd of dairy cattle, just a few less than 200. He doesn't know them by name, unless you consider "number 47" a name. But he addresses them very affectionately, we instantly know he loves his milk cows.

Rob's girlfriend is Lucinda, they are getting married, but she does various tests to make sure he loves her, since Rob is not very demonstrative. One of them is to show up swimming in his large vat of milk, ruining Rob says 1500 dollars of milk (New Zealand dollars, I presume). That is where the movie gets its title, I suppose, "The price of milk." Now if I had been Rob, I would have written Lucinda off as too crazy, too high-maintenance to endure. And especially so after she decides to sell my herd of milk cows to buy back a quilt that was stolen off them at night. But I am American, and apparently New Zealander sentiments run quite different.

Anyway it is a quirky story. It includes a dog that is afraid of the outsides so it goes around under an inverted lid-less cardboard box. There is a curve that must be tricky because often the car will skid of the road and end up inverted. But they seem to accept that as a "normal" occurrence.

So see it if you are in the mood for a very quirky movie that doesn't always make sense. Danielle Cormack is Lucinda. Karl Urban Rob. And Willa O'Neill is Drosophila, Lucinda's friend who gives her sometimes questionable advice.

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Magical Fairy Tale, 25 August 2005

Author: nosselinfea from United Kingdom

Don't let the shoestring budget and the improvised screenplay put you off; this is a truly beautiful movie in the beautiful setting of the New Zealand countryside. It is very surreal and very strange but rather than detract from the story, the fairytale elements add to it, giving the whole thing a magical, if slightly insane, feel.

I was already laughing even before the opening credits finished, but the movie as a whole is well-balanced between comedy and drama. (And there's an actual coherent plot in there, really). Though the story focuses mainly on Lucinda, the mistakes she makes and her attempts to put them right and win back Rob's heart, it's Rob himself that I feel for throughout the movie.

It's not without flaws (no movie is without flaws). Lucinda comes across as a bit of a fruit-loop, with her collection of baby shoes and going nuts with a rifle. Also I wasn't always sure if I was watching a deliberately surreal happening, or if it was just a continuity error (of which there seemed to be several).

But there is some stunning screenplay here; in particular, Lucinda running across a green hillside in a red sari with the long train trailing behind. In the end the flaws don't actually matter that much. Not everyone will understand this movie, but that's not its purpose. The secret to this one is just to relax and not try too hard.

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Delightfully down-to-earth Magic, 16 August 2005

Author: anajana from United States

*** This review may contain spoilers ***

Harry Sinclair's spontaneity as a director allows life to shine through in every frame. Not an expensive movie, nor a polished one, as many fairy-tales are not, but true in its emotional insight into what real love costs: everything that is dear to you. Having your own way in the heat of anger. Letting people treat you as less than what you are. Giving way to uncertainty because making that stand is just too frightening. And then, taking it all, the risks, letting magic in. Karl Urban and Danielle Cormack are delightful as the Farmer in the Dell and Rapunzel, thrown together into a New Zealand Maori-laced tale with soundtrack by the Moscow Symphony Orchestra. You could find flaws in this movie, but why? It's good for your heart. You'll know it in your bones.

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Have been in that tub--both scenes, 15 August 2005

Author: gengen-1 from United States

I watch a lot of movies and I make friends and family "endure" the odd/interesting ones I find. This is so refreshingly unique and (to me) a true love story that I shared it with many. Though it may be more of a chick flick--romantic comedies tend to be--the more savvy movie-loving guys appreciated its fantasy and fun. My husband agreed with reviews that said this film was confusing and too much. I loved every mysterious, misleading scene. I understood the emotion of both characters and felt that love is just as crazy as it was portrayed. I related to being on the polar ends of love and thoroughly enjoyed how the director showed this. Beautiful inside and out.

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