Scarfies

1999, Robert Sarkies, NZ

If you and your flatmates uncovered a stash that could be your ticket out of student poverty, what would you do?

Scarfies sees a rag-tag group of Otago university students stumble on a large marijuana grow-op, and everything’s peachy – until the original gardener returns. The debut feature from Robert Sarkies (Out of the Blue, Two Little Boys) strongly captures the binary at the heart of many Aotearoa New Zealand films – the charming, happy-go-lucky exterior hiding darker, perhaps even sinister interiorities. The five students (spot Taika Waititi as Alex) move quickly from wide-eyed naivety to calculating and devious – prompting many international critics to compare it to Danny Boyle’s breakthrough Shallow Grave (1993).

Sarkies set out to make a film that was in part a love letter to Dunedin and its “scarfies” – students at the university and polytech. Audiences will be instantly transported back to the dingiest of student flats, complete with black mould, rodent infestations and preloading before the game at Carisbrook, all set to an iconic Flying Nun soundtrack courtesy of The Clean, Straitjacket Fits and Look Blue Go Purple. 

“Some films defy categorisation, and refuse to sit snugly in their box. Sometimes the combination of too many flavours spoils the meal, and you end up with an unconvincing, inedible gloop. But in the right hands, the result can be something gloriously original and right: a Sweetie, a Little Miss Sunshine, a Braindead … or a Scarfies.” Ian Pryor, NZonScreen