WHEN LOVE COMES ALONG

Year: 1998
UK: Millivres
Cast: Rena Owen, Dean O'Gorman, Simon Prast, Nancy Brunning, Sophia Hawthorne, Simon Westaway
Director: Garth Maxwell
Country: New Zealand
UK: 93 mins
UK Certificate: 18 contains coarse and strong language, moderate sex and drug use
UK Release Date: 6 July 2001

Synopsis

A complex urban love story set against a vibrant world where creative energy runs rampant, illicit substances fuel artistic juices, and sex is always available, but love is elusive. In his second feature, Garth Maxwell captures all of the outrageous decadence of the music business while creating a truth in his characters that speaks to how people really live with ambition, regret, broken dreams, and fear of intimacy.

Katie Keen (Rena Owen), an aging singer who has seen her star rise and sputter in Los Angeles, comes home to Auckland, New Zealand, to reassess her life and reinvent herself if she can. Even though she's being pursued by her hunky boyfriend, Eddie (Simon Westaway), she moves in with her best mate, Stephen (Simon Prast), the only person she allows herself to lean on.

Stephen has been playing all her old hits, much to the amusement of the youthful object of his affection, Mark (Dean O'Gorman), a promising lyricist who writes through a haze of alcohol, dope, and confusion. When Stephen asks for more maturity than he can deliver, Mark cavorts with his fellow band members, Fig (Nancy Brunning) and Sally (Sophia Hawthorne), an extreme pair of girlie punk rockers hell-bent on stardom, who idolize Katie and urge Mark to bring her into the band.