Cinema of Unease - A Personal Journey by Sam Neill

Film (Full Length) – 1995

Parental Guidance

Sam Neill weaved elements of autobiography into this controversial, quirky and acclaimed analysis of Kiwi cinema — from its beginnings, to the dark flowering of achievement in the breakthrough films of Peter Jackson, Jane Campion and Lee Tamahori. The hour-long award-winner debuted at the 1995 Cannes Film Festival. It was directed by Neill and Judy Rymer (The Grass is Greener), as one of 18 documentaries commissioned for the Century of Cinema series. New York Times reviewer Janet Maslin rated it one of the best. Filmmaker Costa Botes writes here about the film's conclusions, and its global success.

Not much about Sam Neill's ordinary leading-man roles (in films like Jurassic Park) and even his better ones (in The Piano and My Brilliant Career) is preparation for his tart, perceptive directorial voice in a very good film of his own. He makes a first-rate tour guide through Cinema of Unease...
– Reviewer Janet Maslin, The New York Times, 10 October 1995, page C14