Tina Kakadelis
Desperation can lead a person down a dark path. When things are going well, humans like to believe they’re above poor decision-making. And that might be true. It’s easier to think clearly when you’re not fighting to keep a roof over your head and food on the table. As soon as these basic needs start to slip away, it becomes difficult to see the forest for the trees. Alex Liu’s debut, God Bless You, Mr. Kopu, a film oozing with desperation and ambition, will have its world premiere at the 2026 Toronto International Film Festival.
Every salesperson will tell a prospective buyer that the thing they’re selling is the answer to all the woes of the world. Any problem, when boiled down to its essence, comes back to cleaning products. At least, that’s what Forget Cleaners super salesperson Marco (Simon Rex) wants you to believe. He’s come from America to New Zealand to help Forget make an impact in this new market. The only person who turns up to Marco’s meet-up is Mafu (Dimitrius Schuster-Koloamatangi), a Tongan immigrant struggling to make ends meet both for himself and his family back home. Mafu immediately buys the life Marco is selling, and the two become a dynamic sales duo.
God Bless You, Mr. Kopu isn’t a straightforward drama about ambition and door-to-door sales. There’s another twist up this charismatic man’s sleeve, something that’s best revealed during the course of the film. To look at the film with the initial information given to the audience from the festival provided synopsis, God Bless You, Mr. Kopu is a movie about how humans are willing to sell out similarly desperate people for the sake of getting one more scrap than their neighbor. The disenfranchised are all fighting over the same twenty-dollar bill, while the rich keep getting richer. It’s not that Marco is exceptionally wealthy himself, he would be laughed out of most expensive spaces, but to Mafu, he’s got all the money in the world.
“Don’t you want more out of life?” The slippery slope of desire can lead to ruin or to excellence. It’s just a matter of how that enthusiasm is wielded, and by whom. Much of God Bless You, Mr. Kopu unfolds like a ’70s heist flick where the stakes keep rising and the morals keep lowering. Schuster-Koloamatangi plays the mark perfectly well, while Rex is slimy in the best way. He’s the kind of guy you’d never want to meet in person, but who makes for a compelling character to follow. The dynamic between them is elevated by their different backgrounds. Both are immigrants to New Zealand, but as an American, Rex’s Marco has things far easier than Mafu does. It also adds another layer to the moral decisions Mafu is faced with over the course of the film.
Life is about sacrifice. For every road taken, there are hundreds left unexplored. The reality is that there’s only so much a person can do with their one life. Mafu is no stranger to sacrifice. He left his family and the place he loves to go to New Zealand, where things are supposed to be better. It’s a place where he’s supposed to be able to earn money that he can send back home and build a greater existence. God Bless You, Mr. Kopu recognizes that sacrifice may not be something a person knowingly chooses. Often, they’re backed into a corner or coerced into making that choice. Even if an individual regrets a decision, they still have to own up to the choices they made. God Bless You, Mr. Kopu is stylish and confident, a throwback morality play with plenty of modern sensibilities.
