Boy (2010)
Directed by Taika Waititi
Boy, an 11-year-old child and devout Michael Jackson fan who lives on the east coast of New Zealand in 1984, gets a chance to know his absentee criminal father, who has returned to find a bag of money he buried years ago.
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What critics compared Boy to
The title of Boy refers to an 11-year-old whose obsession with his estranged, absentee father gets a reality check when the deadbeat (played by Waititi) returns and inveigles him in a criminal scheme involving a bag of buried money; the dysfunctional, hero-worshipping dynamic between James Rolleston’s soulful title character (whose nondescript name symbolizes paternal neglect) and his bad dad anticipates Jojo’s fixation on Hitler in Jojo Rabbit , right down to the way the dictator functions symbolically as a stand-in for an absent father figure in the newer film.
If Jojo Rabbit is yet another departure — his first war movie and his only period piece — it’s also a return to the coming-of-age territory he explored in Boy and Hunt For The Wilderpeople .
Taika has plenty of experience working with kids and edgy material, and look no further than “Boy” (2010) and “Hunt for the Wilderpeople” (2016) as prime examples.
Hablo, claro, de la comedia romántica incómodamente geek Eagle vs Shark (2007); hablo de Boy (2010), un fascinante coming of age de alocada inspiración twainesca; What we do in the Shadows (2 014), un falso documental genial sobre vampiros adolescentes; y Hunt for the Wilderpeople (2016), una cinta para enamorarse nuevamente de Sam Neil como viejito gruñón en los parajes perdidos de Nueva Zelandia.
"Boy" and "Hunt for the Wilderpeople" are the obvious examples, but the themes of an outsider coming to learn where they belong in the world are felt throughout his other films like "What We Do in the Shadows," "Eagle vs Shark," and even "Thor: Ragnarok."
If you’re familiar with Waititi’s work — which includes the kid-centred “Boy” and “Hunt for the Wilderpeople” and the ensemble adult superhero hijinks of “Thor: Ragnarok” — you know that his comedy can turn weighty, even tragic, with no advance warning.
Early moments from The Peanut Butter Falcon — and indeed its title— could be grafted straight from an early Taika Waititi comedy circa Boy or Eagle Vs Shark .
And by that criteria, Taika, with Eagle vs Shar k, Boy and Hunt For The Wilderpeople on his showreel, was a prime candidate for Marvel ascension.
Written and directed by old pals Taika Waititi (Eagle vs Shark, Boy) and Jemaine Clement (Flight of the Conchords), Shadows taps a fresh vein of humor to transfuse the horrific and the mundane.
As written, directed and starring Jemaine Clement, half of the comedy duo Flight of the Conchords, and Taika Waititi, writer and director of Boy, New Zealand’s highest-grossing film, the film not only tweaks the vampire genre by adding a number of mumblecore elements, but also pays a tongue-in-cheek homage to its history.
The director and star of Boy, as well as a writer and director on multiple episodes of Flight Of The Conchords, the gifted triple-threat Taika Waititi has the face of an angel.
"Flight of the Conchords" co-star Jemaine Clement and "Boy" director Taika Waititi play two of a quartet of vampires who share a Wellington house.
That blood would most notably belong to writer-director-stars Taika Waititi and Jemaine Clement, the New Zealanders responsible for film gems like “Eagle vs. Shark” and “Boy” and the HBO series “Flight of the Conchords.”
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Shark, Boy, What We Do In The Shadows and the NZ-box-office-biggie Hunt For The Wilderpeople, seemed an unlikely choice as director of this, the third Marvel Thor epic.
Hiring Kiwi director Taika Waititi (Boy, What We Do in the Shadows, Hunt for the Wilderpeople) to helm Thor: Ragnarok was a stroke of genius on the part of Marvel.
Heretofore, Taika Waititi has been celebrated for his loopy comedies ( What We Do In the Shadows , Eagle vs Shark) and whimsical coming-of-age films (Boy, Hunt for the Wilderpeople ), so he seemed a surprising choice to join the Marvel conveyor belt.
While Taika Waititi has developed an impressive eye as a filmmaker, evident in work like Boy, What We Do In The Shadows, and The Hunt For The Wilderpeople, Marvel Studios clearly hired the guy to hyper-elevate the entertainment levels of the Thor series, and that is exactly what he has done.
Kiwi director Taika Waititi (Boy, Hunt for the Wilderpeople) takes that one step further, actively embracing the silliness of this supernatural world as well as Thor’s hero complex.
To that end, New Zealand director Taika Waititi ( Boy ; Hunt for the Wilderpeople ) and his improbably buffed star Chris Hemsworth have deployed lashings of humour – some of it only noticeable to Antipodean audiences – to grease the cogs of yet another wind-up franchise vehicle.
Where Ragnarok sometimes teetered towards a tone of self-satisfaction, Taika Waititi is at his best when being truly vulnerable — offsetting the barrage of winking gags with explorations of loss, loneliness and inadequacy (see: Hunt For The Wilderpeople and Boy ).
The man behind “ Boy ” and “ What We Do in the Shadows ” not only knows how hit a comedy beat with perfect timing, but he knows the rhythm a piece like this needs to work.
New Zealand director Taika Waititi’s (Boy, What We Do in the Shadows) latest film, Hunt for the Wilderpeople, is a thoroughly likeable coming-of-age comedy drama, set in the wilds of the director’s home country, and starring Julian Dennison as Ricky Baker, a troubled kid who ends up in a new foster home with adoptive guardians Aunt Bella and Uncle Hec (Rima ti Wiata and Sam Neill).
It follows in the footsteps of the cringeworthy glory of Eagle Vs Shark; laughing until your insides hurt with What We Do in Shadows; and Boy – a work of such blinding perfection that it’s difficult even to comprehend.
Despite the humor, there’s a cornier, more formulaic core here than in the writer-helmer’s prior successes “Boy” and “What We Do in the Shadows” that may comparatively limit its offshore prospects.
Waititi (“What We Do in the Shadows,” “Boy,” “Eagle vs. Shark”) goes broad quite often, but the film holds its singular tone.