THE STORY – Struggling to make ends meet, a meek and desperate Tongan man is drawn into a high-risk partnership with a successful and charismatic salesman who uses a nefarious tactic to swindle people out of their cash.
THE CAST – Simon Rex, Dimitrius Schuster-Koloamatangi & Grace Palmer
THE TEAM – Alex Liu (Director/Writer)
THE RUNNING TIME – 102 Minutes
“God bless you, Mr. Kopu,” says Marco Cass (Simon Rex) as he flicks his lighter, and in that instant, Mafu Kopu (Dimitrius Schuster-Koloamatangi) knows that his life is about to change for the better. Mafu is hanging by a thread, unable to find work to pay his bills or send money back home to his family in Tonga. He didn’t think the job of salesman for new American cleaning product Forget (as in, “spray it and forget it!”) was for him, but sweet office girl Margo (Grace Palmer) points out that he won’t lose anything by trying. Mafu isn’t able to make a single sale on his first day when he’s assigned to sell in a neighborhood of his fellow Tongans, who see him as selling them out. But when top Forget salesman Marco takes him under his wing, he unlocks something in Mafu, teaching him the confidence and swagger he needs to be a good salesman. The only problem is that Marco’s sales tactics involve what he calls “short-term hypnosis,” focusing his mark’s attention elsewhere as he subliminally guides them toward exactly the sale he wants. Mafu sees this as a form of stealing, but he’s desperate enough to go along with it after their first sale together nets him 200 dollars. As Marco reaches higher and higher, and Mafu becomes more confident, they start going after people with more money. Will Mafu’s conscience get the better of him as they enter more dangerous territory?
While it’s obvious that everything will eventually go very wrong, Alex Liu’s debut feature “God Bless You, Mr. Kopu” finds incredibly entertaining ways to keep you guessing as to how exactly everything will go down. The narrative establishes its themes early on and keeps finding new variations on them, deepening the characters and the world they inhabit with each new scene. When the full nature of the plot finally reveals itself, it comes as a shock but not exactly a surprise; the best kind of twist. Liu ensures that no matter how dark the plot gets, the film is always fun to watch, with sharply comic laugh lines and visual flourishes aplenty. Atmospheric dream sequences that become more violent as Mafu gets deeper into the darkness inject an element of horror into the film to pull you deeper right along with him.
As Mafu, Dimitrius Schuster-Koloamatangi has a puppy dog quality that makes you instantly care for him. As Mafu gains confidence under Marco’s tutelage, the actor adopts a steely-smooth edge that he seems to purposely stop from going full-force, as if Mafu still isn’t sure that this is what he wants. Mafu’s humanity hasn’t been completely erased despite Marco’s best attempts, and Schuster-Koloamatangi’s eager eyes convey constant fear that he is doing the wrong thing, letting his soul rot away while still inside him. He’s a compelling screen presence, especially fascinating to watch when navigating Mafu’s complicated relationship with the Tongan community, which he didn’t fit in with as a youth. The story beats around assimilation play most successfully in large part due to Schuster-Koloamatangi’s sensitive performance.
Good as he is, though, the film belongs to Simon Rex. Perfectly cast as a slimy snake oil salesman (“Forget is just water and ethanol,” he confesses to Mafu), Rex revels in the character’s charismatic bad behavior. The secret to selling is confidence in oneself, and Rex’s Marco has an abundance of it; he knows his good looks and supercharged charisma can get him just about anything he wants, especially with the help of his hypnosis skills. But when anything fails him, his desperation shines through, frightened and ugly. Marco isn’t exactly a complex character, but Rex’s infectious energy elevates the film’s already high entertainment value.
With a style that brings to mind ‘70s crime hustler flicks, Liu keeps the momentum high throughout, mirroring the rush that Mafu experiences on this ride with Marco. Even when the pacing slows to allow the audience time to absorb the film’s complexity, it still pulses with a dark energy that draws you deeper into these characters’ headspaces. Fully aligned with Rex’s sly, sinewy showmanship, “God Bless You, Mr. Kopu” feels like a bolt of lightning: a wholly original, tremendously entertaining thrill ride that provides food for thought long after it’s over.
