Broken English Reviews

Star-crossed lovers in kiwi land, with some contemporary twists. Reckless Croatian beauty Nina (Aleksandra Vujcic), whose insouciant surface hides the wounds of a war-torn childhood, is adapting well to life in multiethnic Auckland. Her embittered father Ivan (Rade Serbedzija), by contrast, hates his new country and tries to force his extended family to hold fast to their old ways. Nina works at a Chinese restaurant, where she falls for the handsome Eddie (Julian Arahanga) and befriends Wu (Yang Li), who desperately needs to wed a New Zealander in order to stay in the country. A native because her mother was born in New Zealand, Nina agrees to a marriage of convenience with Wu and begins dating Eddie, who's Maori: Needless to say, her dad goes ballistic. Vujcic and Arahanga make an attractive couple, and the New Zealand locations add a touch of the exotic that temporarily camouflages the well-worn plot machinations: Where else are you going to see a woman's pregnancy revealed by the fact that dolphins flock to frolic with her in the ocean? In the end it's all familiar stuff, but it's beautifully photographed and nicely acted -- you could invest your entertainment time far less wisely.