TINA - Mark Reviews Movies

Tina, Rialto Distribution

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Review by Mark Dujsik | September 4, 2025

Three years after the tragic and unexpected death of her daughter, Mareta (Anapela Polataivao) has basically given up on kind of life beyond making it through each day. She used to be a beloved teacher. She used to attend church with regularity. She used to spend time with co-workers, friends, and family, but now, there doesn't seem to be a point to any of that for her. Tinā begins with the notion that many would refer to her by that title word, Samoan for "mother," because she was also an honorary godmother of sorts to so many in the community. When someone calls her that in the aftermath of her daughter's death, though, the mere sound of the word stings and angers her.

Writer/director Miki Magasiva, making his feature directorial debut, has such obvious respect and admiration for his main character that one cannot help but see her, in some way, as a real person. A lot of that is due to Polataivao's performance, of course, because there is not a single moment of it that doesn't feel authentic.

The film itself, to be sure, fits into a certain formula, in which an inspirational teacher changes the lives of her students and has own life changed by her interactions with them. Even within that framework, the story feels genuine, because it is more about shared pain and unexpected joys coming out of it than big speeches or our protagonist offering hard-earned life lessons.

The only real lesson here is simply but smartly portrayed here, instead of being spoken directly. It's just about living and finding a reason to do so with some passion, some connection to others, and some feeling of accomplishment in the doing. This isn't revolutionary stuff, but that might be why the film resonates on an emotional level by the end. We know that it's all that matters to these characters by that point.

For Mareta, the change in her life comes almost by chance. After a prologue that shows her helping her daughter (played by Tiare Lily Savea) before the young woman auditions at a TV station in Christchurch and finding the daughter among the dead following the 2011 earthquake in that city, Mareta seems to have nothing. When her power goes out, she speaks to her nephew Sio (Belulah Koale), a social worker, who tells Mareta that her government benefits have expired. To keep them, she'll have to at least look for employment, and he already has an interview for her lined up at a prestigious Catholic high school.

She ends up with the job of substitute teacher there, thanks in large part to outgoing headmaster Alan (Dalip Sondhi), who sees the potential in Mareta for her to do something special for and with his students. She says she doesn't want to, because those days are finished, but thinking her time at the school is finished after a contentious interview, Mareta does help Sophie (Antonia Robinson). The teenage girl is playing piano so she can sing, but her injured arm makes it too painful. Mareta quietly sits down next to her, starts playing the song, and just takes in the girl's voice with a contented smile that we might have expected to see on her face again.

The plot here has Mareta starting a school choir, again to help Sophie, who's informed by interim headmaster Peter (Jamie Irvine) that she needs to play an instrument if she wants a music scholarship at a university. Singing in a choir would be enough experience, Mareta argues, and after some pushback and getting approval from Alan, she starts one.

Mareta's pain is obvious and plainly felt here. That of her students, however, is sometimes tougher to see. They are, after all, at an expensive school, come from well-to-do families, and will surely have comfortable lives no matter what happens. Rona (Nicole Whippy), Mareta's former co-worker at the school where she previously taught kids in less privileged situations, makes a point of this apparent change in her friend's philosophy. It's true, because Mareta has more practical things about which to worry now, but it's also not.

Sophie is struggling with her arm, perhaps injured during the earthquake, and the constant anxiety of what happened, how it has affected her life and her future, and put much strain into her relationship with her mother (played by Alison Bruce). Although some—such as tough Mei-ling (Talia Pua)—are noticeable, the other student of note in the choir is Anthony (Zac O'Meagher), a star rugby player who has lost interest in the sport but feels trapped in it. Mareta sees this in her students and gently tries to guide them toward some more fulfilling way of living their own lives—without the weight of the past or the pressures other put upon them.

Putting it that way may make the film sound corny, but Magasiva is surprisingly subtle about developing these characters (too much so, perhaps, with Sophie, who has a lot that's left unspoken and to be inferred), these relationships, and how they change each other. It's not all vaguely uplifting, either, as Mareta has made a specific decision before the story even starts that defines where the third act goes.

Most refreshing of all, however, is that the music really does matter in Tinā. Magasiva details the formation of the choir as a harmonious unit and even devotes lengthy scenes to the performances of entire songs. The film doesn't just tell us that music can be a balm for the heart and mind. It lets us witness and feel that happening.

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