A Woman of Good Character (1980) / Kahu and Maia (1994)

Television credits from directors of the auteurist type are always interesting to look at within the context of their work as a whole. Often considered to be works for hire, there are several instances where the TV work of certain directors does fit right in with the rest of their body of work. Take for example Abel Ferrara's TV film The Gladiator (1986). Despite Ferrara himself saying it was done strictly for a paycheck, the film nevertheless feels like an appropriate follow-up to films like Ms. 45 (1981) and Fear City (1984). Paul Verhoeven's contribution to the HBO anthology series The Hitchhiker, “Last Scene” and William Friedkin's episodes for the revamped Twilight Zone “Nightcrawlers” and Tales from the Crypt, “On a Dead Man's Chest” feature the signature traits of both Verhoeven and Friedkin making them so much more than mere cash grabs. One director who's taken some pretty peculiar trips into TV land is New Zealand based provocateur David Blyth. Looking at Blyth's list of credits, if one thing jumps out at being the most atypical it would be Blyth's stint directing four episodes of Mighty Morphin Power Rangers and four episodes of the White Fang series. Much more in line with the rest of his work however, are two TV projects made years apart, A Woman of Good Character and Kahu and Maia, two of the most curious entries in Blyth's filmography.

Moving out of the suburbs of Blyth's debut feature Angel Mine (1978) for the New Zealand countryside, A Woman of Good Character finds Blyth exploring a different kind of domestic Hell. Lizzie (Sarah Peirse), a young English woman, travels to New Zealand to work on a sheep farm and is immediately confronted with the harshness of her new surroundings and situation when Reginald, the son of the owner of the farm, shoots her small dog out of fear that it would frighten the sheep. It's the first of many confrontations between the two who are constantly at odds, their relationship becoming even more strained after Lizzie refuses Reginald's marriage proposal and later discovers his plot to secretly sell the farm without his fathers knowledge. Obviously being a TV movie and coming after a film like Angel Mine, A Woman of Good Character seems almost quaint at times though it's interesting to see Blyth continue the idea of seeking some sort of comfort in domesticity, albeit in vastly different manner to Angel Mine. Despite the New Zealand countryside being a gorgeous location, the film does an excellent job of making everything seem incredibly sinister and almost immediately establishes the unease of being in totally alien surroundings with no familiarity to be found. Of course the films biggest strength is Lizzie herself, Sarah Pierse, who despite facing one hardship after another is never docile, though her one mental break in the film is certainly memorable, allowing Blyth to show off his more horror-esque stylistic flair.

Fast forward 24 years later to 1994 and Kahu and Maia which found Blyth delving back into the realm of the esoteric with material much more in line with his genre work. Rooted in the mythology of the Māori, the indigenous people of New Zealand, the film is the story of a deadly love affair from centuries past threatening to disrupt the present when Kahu, a philandering wood carver sets his sights on Maia, a beautiful happily married mother, also a talented carver, coming between her and her husband just as his ancestor did before him, which resulted in the death of his mistresses husband. A fascinating and beautiful film, what's incredible about Kahu and Maia is how much it accomplishes in its brisk 45 minute run time. There's quit a bit of backstory to the central plot yet Blyth condenses everything so precisely nothing feels rushed and despite all the exposition throughout the film regarding the more supernatural aspects of the story, the film still retains this mystical aura the way it incorporates dreams, the idea of reincarnation and the predetermined destines of its characters. It also helps that the more magical elements of the story are taken at face value by a lot of the characters. There's hardly any skepticism to be found in the story which is refreshing. Then of course there are the wood carvings themselves, all authentic Māori carvings which play a crucial role in the film, particularity during the tension filled finale, and naturally are quite striking.

Due to the fact that in order to sell a film internationally the run time had to be over an hour to be considered a feature, A Woman of Good Character was later expanded by its producer into a feature and re-titled It's Lizzie to Those Close. Incorporating longer takes and random shots of Lizzie doing housework as well as voice-over narration, Blyth has stated that while he doesn't mind the longer version existing because at least people got to see all the material that was filmed, especially an unusual sequence of actor Bruno Lawrence who plays the mentally challenged brother of Reginald dancing around an idol of sorts constructed out of various pots and pans, the original, shorter cut is his preferred version. The longer cut did make its way to the A&E network in the mid-80's and in fact the story was adapted into a mini-series in 1985 called Ride the High Country. As for Kahu and Maia, Blyth has gone as far as saying that it's his personal favorite film of his. After years of it seemingly being lost to time, the films screenwriter Karen Sidney uploaded it to YouTube, which Blyth fully endorses so it's easily watchable and very much worth doing so as both it and A Woman of Good Character are interesting little detours from Blyth's feature work and set a high quality standard for TV films.