The Price of Milk
The Price of Milk ★★ 2000 (PG-13)
Quirky modern fairy tale has Rob and Lucinda living a happy idyllic life on a New Zealand dairy farm when Lucinda becomes worried that they've become too happy. She decides, on the advice of her best friend Drosophilia, to test Rob's love. She does this by first jumping into a vat of fresh cow's milk worth $1,500. Rob forgives her, but things are about to get strange. Lucinda accidently runs over a local Maori woman named “Auntie.” The woman is unharmed but upset. Later, Auntie has her golfplaying nephews steal Lucinda's prized patchwork quilt, demanding the entire dairy herd in exchange for its return. Sinclair worked from a 30page “outline” instead of a script, and it shows. Robust performances and the beautiful scenery do help make up for it, though. 87m/C VHS, DVD . NZ Danielle Cormack, Karl Urban, Willa O'Neill, Michael Lawrence, Rangi Motu; D: Harry Sinclair; W: Harry Sinclair; C: Leon Narbey.