Marking the sophomore effort of New Zealand director Harry Sinclair, The Price of Milk is a surprisingly winning fable of misguided love. Garnering acclaim in his home country for his first feature Topless Women Talk About Their Lives, which won Best Film at the New Zealand Film and Television awards, Sinclair’s latest is a more focused foray into the romantic comedy genre. A playful take on the fairy tale, Milk is staged as a fantastic, nightmarish sequence in which true love is thwarted and put to the ultimate test.

For star-crossed dairy farmers Lucinda (Danielle Cormack) and Rob (Karl Urban), life is perfect. But when Rob proposes to Lucinda, she is suddenly overcome by the feeling that the spark is fading from their idyllic relationship. Matters only worsen when Lucinda hits a mysterious Maori woman with her car, and hears the old lady warning her to "keep warm." When Rob and Lucinda’s blanket is stolen that night, Lucinda seeks out the old Maori woman and, in a moment of distraught desperation, says she’ll sell Rob’s cows in exchange for her stolen blanket. What ensues is a madcap chain of events, seemingly spurred on by the black magic of the old Maori woman, wherein Rob falls out of love with Lucinda and nearly marries her best friend, Drosophila (Willa O’Neill).

Milk catalogues love gone awry with a wit and style too often absent from American romantic comedies. From the agoraphobic dog that is essentially seen as a moving box to the Sari (and yes, the pun is played for laughs) wedding gowns Drosophila offers to Lucinda, Sinclair creates an endearing film as zany and unexpected as it is sweet. With lush visuals and striking shots of the heroine lost amid the sweeping green landscape of this faraway land, Milk has more to offer than simply a happy ending.



Moo!