Squeegee Bandit

Aroview: The hard-luck story of a charismatic street window-washer who works the intersections of South Auckland is documented with warmth and eye-catching style by director Sandor Lau.

The director searched high and low for the right character for his film, and found him in 'Starfish', a clearly troubled man with a disarming gift of the gab and a heart full of pride, existing in a universe not far from that depicted in ONCE WERE WARRIORS. To the rhythm of some excellent Auckland hip-hop, this is presented in black-and-white with bursts of 'spot colour', an arresting technique that not only gives the film a cinematic charge, but allows the director to make subtle allusions to the ideas beneath the words and images.

NZ International Film Festival 2006