miriam margolyes joins Judy Davis and Jacki Weaver in Holy Days, a 1970s-set New Zealand road movie opening March 27 (ET) that pairs a gentle comic tone with attention to local history and culture.
What Happens When Miriam Margolyes Joins a Road Movie?
The casting places three established performers at the heart of a modest, character-driven story. Nat Boltt, a Deep Cove–based filmmaker, directs an adaptation of Joy Cowley’s book set on New Zealand’s South Island. Margolyes appears alongside Judy Davis and Jacki Weaver as one of three aging nuns who travel by retro-red station wagon to recover deeds that could save their convent. Elijah Tamati co-stars as Brian, a grieving young Māori boy whose arc includes a journey toward Aoraki (Mount Cook).
Margolyes framed her participation as attracted to an uplifting, human story and to a celebration of female friendship: “I thought it was a wonderful story, and it was kind of honest and wholesome, ” she said. She added that she hoped audiences would take away “the fun of women being together” and the courage that comes with that bond.
What If Holy Days Reframes Family Road Stories?
The film lands at an intersection of scenic filmmaking and gentle comedy. Shot on the South Island’s landscapes—cliffs, mountains, and pastoral scenes—the production foregrounds place as a character, while the narrative balances themes of grief, community, and the complicated legacy of the church in New Zealand with moments of slapstick and warmth. Critics and reviewers in the available context linked the film’s tone to recent regional family dramas and road-movie touchstones, noting both conventional plotting and heartfelt execution.
- Director: Nat Boltt (Deep Cove–based filmmaker)
- Source material: Book by Joy Cowley
- Setting/production: New Zealand South Island; Aoraki/Mount Cook figure in the story
- Main cast: Judy Davis, Miriam Margolyes, Jacki Weaver, Elijah Tamati
- Release window: opens March 27 (ET)
Several clear creative choices could shape the film’s reception: the period setting in the 1970s, a focus on intergenerational relationships, and a tonal mix that swings from reverent to silly—ceilings collapsing into soup bowls and missing dentures are among the comic beats noted in the material. The story also explicitly acknowledges the fraught history of the church in New Zealand while honoring Māori spirituality, centring Brian’s personal quest to visit his maunga.
What Comes Next—and What Audiences Should Expect?
Holy Days arrives as a modest, audience-facing piece that prioritizes human connection over formal innovation. Its strengths are the cast and the way the South Island locations are deployed; its limitations, as observed in the available coverage, are a reliance on familiar narrative beats. For viewers seeking a family-friendly road movie that blends melancholy and humor, the film’s combination of star performances and local specificity offers a clear proposition.
For Miriam Margolyes and her co-stars, the film is positioned as a showcase of ensemble chemistry and sentimental reward. For audiences, the release on March 27 (ET) is a moment to judge whether a well-acted, place-rooted comedy-drama can refresh familiar formulas. As the film reaches cinemas, keep an eye on its ability to balance reverence for local histories with the lightweight pleasures of a retro road trip—one that places women’s friendship and a young boy’s search for belonging at its centre. miriam margolyes
