Sandwiched between the retroactively high profile WHAT WE DO IN THE SHADOWS/’14 and the instantly high-profile THOR: RAGNAROK/’17, this superb family film from Taika Waititi largely awaits discovery Stateside. Stunningly shot in the New Zealand wilderness (The Bush), it’s another riff on Waititi’s favored missing-father/lost-son storyline*, here with technically orphaned ‘tween’ Julian Dennison (tubby & wonderful), a troubled kid dropped at a foster home of last resort in rural Nowheresville where he unexpectedly bonds with a rough, but loving eccentric foster mom and keeps his distance from grouchy, outdoorsy husband (Sam Neil, pitch-perfect). But when even this welcome shot at stability is lost, the boy takes to the wilderness rather than let the authorities resettle him yet again, followed & reluctantly mentored by that old grouch of a foster dad. Obvious as this setup sounds, there’s nothing obvious in the way Waititi plays it out as one gross/hilarious/exciting/ touching/law-breaking adventure tumbles over the last. All as our runaway pair (and two lovable dogs) are turned by the media into either violent criminals or folk legends on the lam. Meanwhile, authorities & militia organize a nationwide dragnet to bring them in. Beautifully constructed (Waititi, or Barry Crump’s novel?), there’s no mistaking Waititi’s preternatural cinematic chops, the guy’s a natural. We even learn the two essential rules of wilderness survival. Find water; Don’t get naked.
DOUBLE-BILL/LINK: *This missing parental theme used and/or camouflaged in artistic breakthroughs BOY/’10 and JOJO RABBIT/’19. Waititi proving yet again he’s one of cinemas greatest kid directors. Up there with Carol Reed , Truffaut & De Sica. https://maksquibs.blogspot.com/2017/11/boy-2010.html https://maksquibs.blogspot.com/2019/12/jojo-rabbit-2019.html
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