Jake cusses and yells at her on a curb outside the pub as the family leaves, with police sirens wailing in the background. "Once Were Warriors" is the first feature film produced by Communicado Productions. The production won Best Film at the Durban International Film Festival, Montreal Film Festival, New Zealand Film & Television Awards, and Rotterdam Film Festival. It also became at the time the highest-grossing film in New Zealand, surpassing "The Piano" (1993). "Once Were Warriors" was nominated for the Grand Prix of the Belgian Syndicate of Cinema Critics. The film was shot at a local state house, located at 33 O'Connor Street, Otara, in the Auckland metropolitan area. The neighbours of the house used for filming complained on numerous occasions due to the film's late night party scenes. "Once Were Warriors" was critically lauded on release, and the film currently has a rating of 93% on Rotten Tomatoes based on 44 reviews with an average rating of 7.8 out of 10. Roger Ebert gave the film three and a half stars out of four and observed: ""Once Were Warriors" has been praised as an attack on domestic violence and abuse. So it is. But I am not sure anyone needs to see this film to discover that such brutality is bad. We know that. I value it for two other reasons: its perception in showing the way alcohol triggers sudden personality shifts, and its power in presenting two great performances by Morrison and Owen. You don't often see acting like this in the movies. They bring the Academy Awards into perspective." In The Movie Show review of 1994, Margaret Pomeranz called "Once Were Warriors" "a very impressive big screen debut from director Lee Tamahori," while also praising the cinematography of Stuart Dryburgh and the performances of the films leads, Morrison and Owen. Co-host David Stratton described the film as "astonishing," "absolutely devastating," and "a really, really, really good film." Stratton also compared "Once Were Warriors" favourably with New Zealand's "Heavenly Creatures" of the same year. Pomeranz gave "Once Were Warriors" four stars out of five while Stratton gave it four point five. A 2014 New Zealand survey voted "Once Were Warriors" the best New Zealand film of all time. "Once Were the Cast of Warriors" (2014) is a documentary film made for the 20th anniversary of the original release of "Once Were Warriors".