A Little Brown Lie has a delicously simple premise. Aroha (Tuakoi Ohia) is searching for the perfect Tinder date. He has to be hot, Māori and not as far away as Hokianga! Her flatmate KC (Baylee Watene-Kay) doesn’t rate using social media to find a boyfriend. She’s more centred and less ‘desperate’ than Aroha.  

Then it happens! The Māori Adonis – Te Koha (Mataara Stokes) is online. Stupidly, Aroha messages him in the simplest Reo Māori and WTF… he replies in accomplished Te Reo… which Aroha doesn’t understand and needs KC to help. Reluctantly, KC translates Aroha’s messages to Te Koha and his replies to Aroha. It’s all on!

Then comes the problem. He might be Mr Tika, but Aroha has set herself up with a lie. Disaster impending. 

Annette Morehu’s script is pitch-perfect. There are some gloriously funny lines: “Ngati Porou? He’s Paul Goldsmith’s cousin” and “You need to stop looking for your Reo at the end of an ure – it’s not sexually transmitted!” LOL. I love how our two languages interplay in the script.

The play is carried off superbly by Tuakoi and Baylee. Comfortable, real and throwaway. When the crisis happens and Aroha realises her predicament, the play gets serious. You can believe Aroha’s fragility and whakamā at not being proficient in her own language, just as you can admire KC’s understanding and tiaki. “You are more than your inability to speak Māori”.

As the male sex-symbol, Mataara keeps it cool. He comes across as indeed the perfect match: handsome but honest.

A Little Brown Lie is nicely put together as a film too. Te Koha’s ‘apparitions’ in the girls’ living room don’t jar – they add to the tension of the script. It’s simply photographed and allows the dialogue to flourish without drawing attention to the mechanics.

If you get a chance, watch this sweet little ditty. You’ll love it.

See here – scroll down to A Little Brown Lie and select your channel of choice.

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