Writer/director Taika Waititi’s latest is a touching, sad, and
hilarious little movie that is a wonderful showcase for Sam Neill. He plays a cantankerous old bushman whose
wife adopts a troubled overweight teenager (Julian Dennison). When his wife dies, social services threaten
to take the boy away. Panicked, Dennison runs off into the bush and Neill has to track him down. Through a series of misunderstandings, the
authorities come to believe that Neill has kidnapped the boy and the pair
decide to evade capture by living together in the woods.
One of the joys of the movie is seeing Neill’s gruff
exterior being slowly eroded by the charms of his newfound “nephew”. Some of the best parts are the smaller scenes
where the two of them are just sitting around talking. He really makes you care about his character
and his arc is genuinely moving. If this
isn’t his best performance, it’s awfully close.
Waititi possesses a light, childlike touch that makes the
film feel like a whimsical children’s movie.
His script is sharp and funny and it slides effortlessly from wacky
sequences to more heartfelt moments without missing a beat. It’s also packed with some great dialogue and
plenty of laugh-out-loud zingers. My
favorite moment is when Dennison reads a wanted poster and says, “Caucasian? Well, they got that wrong because you’re
obviously white!”
No comments:
Post a Comment