Rest for the Wicked; A tale of aging disgracefully

Rest for the Wicked
Director: Simon Pattison

“Rest for the Wicked” has the best opening and closing sequences of a New Zealand film for many years. These two scenes have all the hallmarks of a creative writer and director with a fanciful and surreal mixture of drama and comedy.

The film opens with an old man, Frank (John Bach) riding down a suburban street on his mobility scooter. He knocks on the door of a tinny house and then bursts in gunning down all the drug dealers. He wires up the house and a few minutes later as he is making his escape, the house is blown up.

It looks as this is going to be an ageist take on the avenging angel tale set in the Auckland suburbs.

But no. Frank is a career criminal who now lives in an old folks home in the leafy suburbs (actually a Remuera retirement village).

However he is not going to get away with his murder and mayhem because ex cop Murray (Tony Barry) is going undercover in the village to expose him.

Apart from the killing spree at the house Murray discovers that Frank has been murdering several of the residents of the village, embarking on a new a career as a serial killer of old folks

Or is he?

Despite the occasional bit of blood letting this is a comedy exploring the mixed up lives and mixed up brains of the residents of the Knightsbridge Gardens Retirement Village.

The village is not just a collection of old people though, it’s a collection of old and ageing stars of New Zealand and Australian stage and screen. In addition to Tony Barry and John Bach there is Bruce Allpress, Ken Blackburn and of course the crumpled Ian Mune.

These gentlemen are complemented by a bevy of gracefully aging beauties - Irene Wood, Ilona Rodgers, Theresa Woodham and Elizabeth McRae as Lillian

There are a few youngsters among the cast including Elisabeth Easther and Sara Wiseman

The film is filled with perceptive and pertinent reflections about growing old as Murray notes. “Inside every old person there’s a young person wondering what the hell happened.”

The attempts to spike Murray's drink with Viagra by the two cougars of the village and Murray’s brave attempts at being a detective are cleverly done but suffer from amateurish performances

Despite the clever idea and the host of talent the film is really a collection of very funny one liners and visual jokes which is entertaining but not all that engaging.