Charm can be its own form of menace in God Bless You, Mr Kopu, the feature debut of Tongan Kiwi writer-director Alex Liu, a darkly funny, increasingly sinister thriller that uses the seductive promise of success to explore power, race and belonging.
Mafu (Dimitrius Schuster-Koloamatangi) is a struggling Tongan immigrant whose fortunes seemingly change when he becomes the protégé of successful American salesman Marco Cass (Simon Rex); Marco supposedly becoming something of a magnate in the door-to-door salesman scene pushing the cleaning product “Forget.” Confident, charismatic and immediately commanding, Marco offers Mafu more than employment. He represents the possibility of transformation and access to a life that has always seemed beyond his reach.
Naturally, that dream job comes with conditions.
What begins as an unlikely mentor-protégé relationship gradually curdles into something far more troubling as Mafu questions Marco’s methods and the increasingly dubious world he has entered. Liu wisely resists showing his entire hand too early, allowing the unease to creep in before tightening its grip and pushing the film towards increasingly unhinged territory.
Much of that energy comes courtesy of Rex, who delivers a wonderfully full-bodied, occasionally maniacal performance. As Red Rocket so effectively demonstrated, Rex knows how to weaponise his natural charisma, and Marco allows him to push that quality somewhere even more dangerous. He’s magnetic, ridiculous and deeply unsettling, often leaving us unsure whether we should be laughing with him or worrying about what he’ll do next.
Against such an intentionally outsized performance, Schuster-Koloamatangi proves an immensely appealing counterweight. Mafu is hardly innocent, with his increasingly questionable choices preventing him from being reduced to a simple victim, but the actor maintains such an inherent sweetness and vulnerability that he remains endearing even when his actions complicate our sympathy.
That investment proves crucial because God Bless You, Mr Kopu ultimately has considerably more heart than its increasingly dark trajectory might suggest. Liu is working firmly within the framework of a crime thriller, but his greater interest lies in what Marco represents to Mafu. Their relationship allows the film to interrogate aspiration, assimilation and the dangerous temptation to reshape yourself according to someone else’s definition of success.
Liu has described the film as part of a “Pacific New Wave,” and that sensibility is evident in the way he refuses to let Pasifika identity dictate the type of story he can tell. Instead, a distinctly modern Polynesian perspective is folded into the genre filmmaking he clearly loves. Its cultural specificity strengthens the thriller rather than restricting it, lending familiar ideas of ambition and exploitation a more personal perspective.
A wicked streak of dark humour further keeps proceedings unpredictable. Liu understands how comfortably menace and absurdity can coexist, with some of the film’s funniest moments simultaneously proving its most uncomfortable. That tonal balancing act isn’t always seamless, particularly as the story accelerates towards its final revelations, but its unruliness is part of the appeal.
The eventual twist may prove more surprising to some viewers than others, with enough breadcrumbs scattered throughout that particularly attentive audiences could arrive at the destination early. Thankfully, the film doesn’t depend entirely on blindsiding us. The thematic ideas surrounding the reveal are ultimately more interesting than the surprise itself.
Most importantly, Liu refuses to surrender the story completely to cynicism. For all its moral compromises, threatening personalities and nightmarish turns, God Bless You, Mr Kopu retains an unexpected sense of hope. Beneath its genre mechanics is genuine affection for Mafu and a belief that his journey amounts to more than merely servicing a clever twist.
Anchored by Schuster-Koloamatangi’s enormously sympathetic presence and a gloriously committed Rex operating somewhere between charming salesman and barely contained lunatic, God Bless You, Mr Kopu is an assured, darkly amusing debut. If this is Liu’s vision of a Pacific New Wave, its willingness to push Polynesian storytelling into stranger, darker and more genre-driven territory makes for an exciting proposition.
THREE AND A HALF STARS (OUT OF FIVE)
God Bless You, Mr Kopu is screening as part of this year’s Toronto International Film Festival, running between September 10th and 20th, 2026. For more information, head to the official site here.
