User Friendly

User Friendly, is an exuberant romp of a kind that turns the caper genre into Gothic gavotte. It has many sly and stylish black delights and other, often flamboyant, inventions

User Friendly, New Zealand, 1990

Director: Gregor Nicholas
Production co: Film Konstruktion limited
Producers: Trevor Haysom, Frank Stark
Screenplay: Gregor Nicholas, Norelle Scott, Frank Stark
Director of photography: Donald Duncan
Editor: David Coulson
Production designer: Kirsten Shouler
Costume designer: Ngila Dickson
Composer: Mark Nicholas
Production manager: Chloe Smith

With: William Brandt (Billy), Alison Bruce (Augusta), Judith Gibson (Miranda), David Letch (Wayne), Joan Reid (Marjorie), Lewis Martin (Monty), June Bishop (Doris), Noel Appleby (Barry), Nell Weatherly (Beverly), Dorothy Hurt (Eunice), Belinda Weymouth (Laura)

35mm, 90 minutes, M

Watch the trailer for User Friendly (12.33MB; 3.34 minutes)

“User Friendly marks a fresh beginning for the New Zealand film industry. It will be the feature film debut for this country’s most celebrated short film maker, Gregor Nicholas. Nicholas has gained an international reputation for his stylish and unique film making and he has received awards in festivals and competitions all over the world… The film is based on an understanding of how New Zealand and its movies are seen in other countries. In the past our films have seemed introspective, even somber, to audiences in the United States, Britain or Australia. What User Friendly is about above all else is energy and vitality – an irreverent lust for life which invites the viewer to participate in the film as spectator sport. Each bizarre scene tumbles into the next with vulgar exuberance. Unexpected visual elements, witty camera angles and movements and the magical properties of the dog statue give the film its special flavour. Larger than life performances and an times an exhilarating pace grab the audience and take them on an absurd but highly entertaining trip they will be laughing about for a long time after they leave the theatre.” — Film publicity

“Gregor Nicholas’ first feature, User Friendly, is an exuberant romp of a kind that turns the caper genre into Gothic gavotte. It has many sly and stylish black delights and other, often flamboyant, invention… User Friendly begins when an ancient dog-goddess effigy possessing vast regenerative and erotic powers is stolen from the island of Tokabaru. It surfaces in Auckland, New Zealand, as the property of manic cosmetics tycoon, Miranda Matlock. Miranda uses it as marketing symbol and a form of aphrodisiac to enhance her love live with companion Wayne. But footloose femme hippie Augusta coverts the wooden canine as a means of winning back ex-boyfriend and anthropologist Billy. On the other side of town, Monty and Marjorie want it to carry through their experiments on eternal life with the goldie-oldie community of the Balmoral Bowling Center. A battle for possession takes place with the dog-goddess ultimately fulfilling the desires of all. Nicholas’ particular strengths – and his success as a maker of short films – show in the pace and details of individual scenes. (One such sequence involves mad Marjorie running amok with a syringe filled with the dog-goddess’s magic juices)… Of the players, Joan Reid’s stone-eyed grimacing old bitch is a standout, and Gibson’s frontal, all-stops-out Miranda, shines.”— Mike Nicoliadi, Variety

“Escapist comedy has never been high on the agenda for New Zealand’s filmmakers. But for the sustained lack of good or serious intentions, it’s necessary to turn to Gregor Nicholas’ User Friendly. The film’s driving force is an ancient dog-goddess effigy possessing legendary aphrodisiac powers. This dog is wanted – by a demented cosmetics tycoon who sees its market possibilities and by a mob of Skoda-driving old people, led by a pair of deranged doctors who are convinced that it contains the elixir of youth. Protecting the dog falls to the lanky, swotty Billy, his prankish girlfriend Augusta and her bull terrier, Cyclops. Gregor Nicholas has made his mark as the director of a series of stylish shorts, including the excellent Danny and Raewyn and striking collaborations with FromScratch (Drum/Sing) and Douglas Wright (Hey Paris). Perhaps it’s not surprising that his first feature works best in the set pieces, most notably in the elaborate couplings of the cosmetics tycoon Miranda and her toyboy, Wayne. (With the aid of the appropriate harness and high-tech equipment they re-enact the docking sequences from 2001 A Space Odyssesy). The sexual element gives User Friendly an edge of darkness and unlike most comedies, this one moves from daylight into night – for a truly frenzied and completely tasteless climax on and around the floodlit lawns of the Balmoral Bowling Club. User Friendly is an ambitious juggling act for a first time director. Nicholas doesn’t always seem on top of the chaos he’s conjured forth, but he is on top of an individual and eccentric point of view. We’re fairly certain that his picture of Auckland suburbanites in frenzied pursuit of money, youth, beauty and sex is as big a put-on as the little dog itself. It might even be wishful thinking. Check it out!” — Bill Gosden, 22 Auckland Film Festival, 1990

Screenings: User Friendly screened on 26 April 2006 in First Steps, a programme selected by Film Archive CEO Frank Stark, looking at the first features of several well-known NZ directors