Takeout Kids takes the ordinary and makes it beautiful
Plus: A must-see new horror film, a new season of National Treasures, and why does Lucy Lawless have a 20 foot painting of Suzanne Paul in her downstairs toilet?
Short doco series Takeout Kids takes us beyond the shop counter
A young girl stares into a mirror, holding a tube of lip gloss tightly in her hand. Her elder sister orders her to “schooch” over and together, the two girls press their faces close to the glass and apply the lip gloss to their faces with the quiet, steady hand of a professional. “I am smelling something very weird,” the young girl says to her sister, breaking the silence. “Whatever,” the sister replies, in the way that only older sisters can.
The young girl with the acute sense of smell and a fistful of lip gloss is Kyla. She’s the subject of the fifth and final episode of Takeout Kids, the short documentary series about the kids who work in their family restaurants around Aotearoa. They take the phone orders and serve the hungry customers, but they’re also just regular kids, dealing with regular kid issues. It’s a beautifully shot, gentle series that takes us behind the shop counter and into the rich worlds of these tamariki and their whānau.
Each episode of Takeout Kids is a miniature coming-of-age documentary, as well as a celebration of family, culture and belonging. There’s something special about being taken into the world beyond the shop counter, and while the lives of these children may be different to our own, Takeout Kids reminds us of the things we all have in common: making friends, learning new things, wondering what we’ll do with our lives.
When season one was released in 2022, we met teenager Martinque, who’s learning to drive when she’s not working at Samoa’s Finest Island Food in Porirua, and Brooklyn, who helps in his parent’s kitchen and wonders how he’ll get new parts for his model helicopter. There’s the beautifully polite Rama, who takes the orders in her parents Jordanian restaurant in Auckland, and Christchurch esports player John, who visits the gym in between his shifts at his family’s fish and chip shop.
Season two launched last month, and introduced us to five new tamariki and the small businesses owned by their immigrant families. Episode one quickly won me over with Priyan, the cheeky five-year-old who just started school and helps stock the fridges in his parents’ dairy. We also meet Dom, who works alongside his Mum in their restaurant in Taupō, and Lauren, who sells doughnuts at the night markets, and Akaroa teenager Phitcha, who waitresses in her family’s Thai restaurant. And, of course, in the final episode we meet Kyla from Whakatāne, who hangs out after school in her mother’s nail shop and recites her pepeha to the customers.
Director Julie Zhu captures the beauty in the everyday lives of each of these children. Because there’s no voiceover or narration, the audience gets to quietly soak up all the small details of everyday life and appreciate them in a new light: an evening meal shared with family, a chat with a customer, cicadas chirping in the dusk outside the fish and chip shop. Amid the light and the shadows, the noise and the hush, Takeout Kids captures those everyday, mundane moments and turns them into something special.
Takeout Kids is about growing up and the power that lies in finding your own place in the world. Watch one episode at a time, or watch them all at once, but I promise that you’ll be thinking about it long afterwards. This is a series full of heart and compassion, and it’s hard to watch Takeout Kids without a smile across your face – lip gloss or not.
Takeout Kids was made with the support of New Zealand on Air. Season one and two are available to watch on The Spinoff.
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Why you should watch: The Substance (in cinemas)
The Substance was a smash hit at Cannes earlier in the year, and now it’s finally our turn to find out what everyone was talking about. The visceral body horror certainly isn’t for the squeamish, but while much of the horror does indeed come from bizarre things happening to human bodies, The Substance also has a biting social commentary about modern beauty standards that is often as scary as it is funny. Demi Moore turns in an all-time great performance, alongside Margaret Qualley and a truly grotesque Dennis Quaid. This has been my favourite cinema experience of the year, and I can’t see it being topped anytime soon. / Stewart Sowman-Lund
You might also like: Alex Casey talked to the creative team behind Grafted, a skin-crawling new local body horror film.
Why you should watch: National Treasures (TVNZ+)
If you’re a fan of New Zealand history, or you love finding out the weird and wonderful details about our most special taonga, National Treasures is a must watch. Scotty and Stacey Morrison are joined by Oscar Kightley (all national treasures in their own right) and a team of experts as they reveal the intriguing, heartwarming and often emotional stories behind a variety of unique historical objects. This season’s taonga include cheese rolls, war medals and… Thingee? Good to see he’s finally getting national treasure status.
“It’s impossible to come away from an episode of National Treasures without looking at every object in your house in a more sentimental light,” Alex Lodge wrote for The Spinoff during season one. “The afterglow leaves us as an audience considering our own role as kaitiaki of treasures and stories. This is the lasting impression of National Treasures…it reminds us to not only look back, but also to look around at the present moment and celebrate the living.”
More pop culture news from The Spinoff
Christian Cullen is making waves on Celebrity Treasure Island, and Alex Casey is here for every glorious moment from this mysterious smooth guy.
Speaking of Cullywood, our Celebrity Treasure Island power rankings wonders why Lucy Lawless has a 20 foot painting of Suzanne Paul in her downstairs toilet? We must know more.
Step inside indie musician Molly Payton’s dreamy, acoustic world with her top 10 picks for the perfect weekend playlist.
Duncan Greive delves into why free-to-air sports are back and what this means for NZ Rugby.
“It knows exactly what it’s trying to be”: Duncan Greive also watched the new Game of 2 Halves quiz reboot.
We’ve got all the new shows and movies hitting streaming services this week, including the second star-studded drama about the Prince Andrew/Newsnight interview and Colin Farrell as an HBO penguin.
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Why you should watch: The Nevermets (TVNZ+)
Fans of reality series 90 Day Fiance will enjoy new factual series The Nevermets, which deals with a similar premise: long-distance lovers decide to turn their online romances into reality by meeting in person for the same time. It’s a bumpy ride of joy and disappointment as these couples – some of whom have been talking for years – discover that a real life relationship is very different to an online one. There’s plenty of hope, but it’s also an insight into how online connections offer an escape for people from the realities of everyday life.
You might also like: The Contestant (Disney+): Earlier this year Polygon called The Contestant, a documentary about a bonkers 1998 Japanese reality show in which a man was left alone in a room for a year and forced to survive only off magazine competition winnings, the most twisted thing you’ll see this year. Must watch for fans of reality TV. / Alex Casey
Before we pop off…
The first trailer for The Office Australia (Prime Video, October 18) dropped this week, and while the responses were mixed, Alex Casey reveals the shocking news that show is contributing to New Zealand’s brain drain.
Survivor Australia vs The World has begun filming and will feature yet-unnamed New Zealanders in the cast. Adam O’Brien, is that you?
Locally-made series Time Bandits has been cancelled after one season by AppleTV+. Guess we will never find out if Jemaine Clement would make good on his promise to feature Carterton's extremely janky Stonehenge replica in season two.
Missed the Emmy awards on Monday? Catch up on the best and worst moments, including why John Oliver credits the Bird of New Zealand competition for his win.
Shrek is returning to the big screen in te reo Māori next year. "The biggest challenge is to find the 'sweet spot' when it comes to matching the humour – which is funny when expressed in English – and then find its equivalent in Māori," head translator Te Kiwa Goddard told RNZ. Can't wait.
That’s it for Rec Room for this week. If you liked what you read, why not share Rec Room with your friends and whānau.
