hard-hearted rule." The Hollywood Reporter Dave Rooney described Mahana as an old-fashioned family saga with conflicting impulses. He criticized John Collee's script-writing, commenting that the "on-the-nose dialogue, ripe melodrama and preprogrammed emotional responses will test all but the most forgiving viewers". Stuff.co.nz reviewer Graeme Tuckett praised the film, describing it as "having all its pieces present and correct". Tuckett also likened Mahana to Lee Tamahori's 1994 film Once Were Warriors and praised Ginni Loane's incorporation of landscapes and interior shots into the cinematography. However, Tuckett criticized the film for its predictable and melodramatic storyline. Newshub reviewer Kate Rodger awarded the film three out of five stars; praising the performance of the main cast including Temuera Morrison, Nancy Brunning, and Akuhata Keefe. Rodger also praised Loane's cinematography for immersing the viewer "entirely in the back blocks of New Zealand's rich farming heritage and lending a very tangible and convincing authenticity to the story." The New Zealand Herald reviewer described Mahana as a "Māori story with universal appeal" and credited the screenwriter John Collee for adapting Witi Ihimaera's novel Bulibasha: King of the Gypsies into a "tight family saga of promises broken and secrets kept." The Sydney Morning Herald reviewer Paul Byrnes praised Mahana as a landmark film in Māori cinematography, describing it "as an engrossing narrative on a grand scale about quotidian lives." Byrnes also opined that the film dealt with manhood, masculinity, and feminine power within families. References External links 2016 films 2016 drama films New Zealand drama films Films set in New Zealand Films shot in New Zealand Films about Māori people 2010s English-language films Films set in the 1950s