Registering with NZ On Screen means you can:
We won't share your data with anyone (see our Privacy Policy) and we won't spam you. It's that simple.
This debut feature from director Niki Caro follows a Tokyo woman and her fiance who elope to New Zealand. A stunted beginning to their sexual relationship is overcome in a cave on an isolated West Coast beach. Shortly afterwards he drowns. She returns to a suffocating Tokyo before being drawn back to the cave. The restrained study of eroticism and grief was based on a short story by Peter Wells (itself inspired by a true story). Desire was selected for Critics' Week at Cannes (1998), and won best film at 1999's NZ Film Awards and a special jury prize for Caro.
Please keep your comments relevant to this title. Email addresses are never displayed, but they are required to confirm your comments.
Frame Up Films
You need to be logged in to add to your favourites.
Television, 1994 (Full Length)
Another story of Asian experience in NZ
Film, 2009 (Trailer, Excerpts, and Extras)
Another feature film directed by Niki Caro
1999 New Zealand Film Awards
Best Film
Special Jury Prize: Niki Caro
Design: Grant Major
Foreign Performer: Yuro Kinugawa
Nominated for Best Director, Best Screenplay Adaptation, and Best Cinematography
NZ ON SCREEN 2013
This website has been made with funding from NZ ON AIR ›
The synopsis and credits are included
Darren Schroeder | website
Posted at 07.43AM - 27.02.2010
A powerful and haunting work which seems sadly to have been overlooked by cinema audiences. I saw quite a few films at the film festival that year, but this has stayed in my mind while the others faded away.