Top 10 Greatest Cook Islands Movies of All Time

Top 10 Greatest Cook Islands Movies of All Time. You should check out these Cook Islands Movies. These Cook Islands Movies will give you a lot of fun and practice.

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Cook Islands Movies

1. Gary of the Pacific (2017)

Director: Nigel McCulloch

The Last Chief of a Sinking Pacific Island is a comedy about a struggling real estate agent, Gary Vasis, who finds himself in charge of a sinking island after learning his father is dying. – Cook Islands Movies

2. The Island In Me (2021)

Director: Gemma Cubero del Barrio

The story follows three women as they journey to the secluded Polynesian seclusion of the Pukapuku Atoll of the South Pacific Ocean, embarking on a captivating and lyrical exploration of memories, love, grief, identity, and the universal quest for completeness. – Cook Islands Movies

3. The Other Side of Heaven (2001)

Director: Mitch Davis

A middle-class young man from Idaho Falls, Idaho, embarks on a journey across the Pacific Ocean to become a Latter-Day Saint Missionary in the remote and mysterious Tongan island kingdom of the 1950s.

His journey is marked by the passing of his beloved family, as well as the passing of Jean, the woman he has devoted his life to. Throughout his three years of exploration in the islands, John Groberg finds companionship and insight in unlikely places.

Through his letters and musings over the miles, he chronicles his humbling and often humorous adventures with Jean, whose letters serve as a source of solace during difficult times.

John struggles to overcome language impediments, physical strain, and ingrained mistrust of the Tongan inhabitants to gain the trust and affection of the people he seeks to serve. His journey to the Tongan islands will forever alter his life. – Cook Islands Movies

4. Merry Christmas Mr. Lawrence (1983)

Director: Nagisa Ōshima

The story takes place in Java in 1942 when British Major Jack ‘Strafer’ Celliers arrives at a Japanese prisoner of war camp and is taken to a court to be tried for his surrender.

He tells the court that the Japanese soldiers are going to massacre the local villagers, so he decides to surrender so they won’t have to. The camp commander, Captain Yonoi, is fascinated by Jack and takes him to the hospital for treatment.

Colonel John Lawrence, who has lived in both Japan and the UK for many years, is the liaison between the prisoners and Captain Yonoi. When Jack leaves the hospital, he challenges Captain Yonoi, whom he sees as a man of honor and discipline, but Captain Yonoi thinks he’s possessed by demons and that their fight will lead to the end of the British. – Cook Islands Movies

5. The Silent One (1984)

Director: Yvonne Mackay

This magical children’s movie is about Jonasi, a deaf-mute boy who is sent from the sea at a young age to grow up in a remote Polynesian village. He’s separated from the villagers because of his silence and their prejudice, but he finds comfort in an underwater world.

Yvonne Mackay directs the film, making it the first New Zealand drama directed by a woman. It’s set on a coral atoll in the Cook Islands and is based on a true story by Ian Mune. It’s a magical tale that touches on the Pacific, village life, and the supernatural. – Cook Islands Movies

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6. Vai (2019)

Director: Amberley Jo Aumua

A Pacific film made by nine female filmmakers, shot in 7 different countries across the Pacific. It’s about one woman’s journey to become empowered through culture through the story of Vai, a character played by an Indigenous actress from each of the countries. – Cook Islands Movies

7. The Legend of Johnny Lingo (2003)

Director: Steven Ramirez

When a canoe carrying a baby boy is washed ashore on a South Pacific island, it is initially welcomed as a divine gift, even to the extent that the tribal chief adopts the boy as his successor.

However, as time passes and the hardships are attributed to Tama (his name), he is eventually cast out and forced to live with the most impoverished inhabitants of the island, including Mahana and her alcoholic father.

Although Mahana is considered to be homely and unattractive, Tama feels otherwise, and when he is mature enough to build a vessel to sail away from the island, he promises to return to her in the future.

A fortunate event brings him to land on the island of the renowned Johnny Lingo, one of the wealthiest traders in the islands. Through his years of service to Johnny Lingo, Tama has gained a great deal of knowledge about life and himself, as he dreams of fulfilling his promise to Mahana. – Cook Islands Movies

8. Stranded Pearl (2023)

Director: Ken Khan

The plot of this romantic adventure film follows a wealthy American woman who embarks on a business trip to the Cook Islands with her new husband, only to be stranded on a desert island with a man with a mysterious past who has little time for her.

Through a combination of drama, action, intrigue, and comedy, they come together and escape the island, only for his sinister past to be uncovered. Eventually, they are saved and the story takes an unexpected turn, leaving viewers with a sense of wonderment and longing for more.

The story opens with the arrival of ‘Julia’, a loud and self-assured New York businesswoman, newly appointed president of an international property development company, on the island of Cooks, and quickly develops into a captivating combination of intrigue, romance, and adventure, culminating in a climax that, while satisfyingly exotic, romantic, adventurous, and action-packed, also has the element of surprise which would have been difficult for a viewer to have anticipated. – Cook Islands Movies

9. Kia Orana (2014)

Director: Lennie Hill

Kia Orana is a colorful, playfully comedic short that just doesn’t have enough substance to leave an impact. Five warriors come across a musical instrument in the sand, which provides them with musical accompaniment. – Cook Islands Movies

10. Burning of the Gods (2022)

Director: Karin Williams

A plane lands, a large cruise boat docks, and a group of tourists embark on a tropical island holiday. This picturesque paradise relies on petroleum imports to power its cars, motorcycles, and boats, as well as its hotels, pumps, and machinery.

The film begins with the words of the renowned Niuean artist, John Pule, and continues in a visual tone poem with no dialogue or narration, delving into the past to explore the future.

The protagonist journeys back in time from luxurious resorts and lagoon excursions to the onset of the pandemic and the exodus of the population, to the early days of Christianity when missionaries burned his island’s atu and marae.

In the end, the protagonist reunites with his tipuna, who first settled on the island 1,000 years ago. The structure of the film reflects Polynesian ideas of nonlinear time, where the past, present, and future all coexist. – Cook Islands Movies

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