I can’t remember last time I enjoyed a movie as much as Taika Waititi’s Hunt for the Wilderpeople.
I didn’t know what to expect - but you might expect a New Zealand film about a foster kid who has been rejected by everyone he’s ever known to be sober and depressing.
Nope! It was lovely and hilarious.
Also while the two main characters are male, the main antagonist is a woman and there are other great roles by people who aren’t white men. In fact Sam Neill’s character is, from memory, the only named white male character in the film. Maori and Pacifica are the stars of the show.
My only complaint about Waititi’s last film What We Do in the Shadows was the lack of women. This film arguably fails the Bechdel test (does talking about a male little boy count as talking about a man?) but this is not for a lack of good roles for women. There are jokes about how fat the little kid is - though they didn’t strike me as mean spirited. We were meant to laugh at the adults being insensitive rather than at the kid himself.
Speaking of the kid (Julian Dennison) - he was completely delightful and fantastic. Child actors can be iffy -we’ve all seen Star Wars Episode 1, right? But this kid was perfect and funny and never annoying and I hope we see more from him.
Waititi has a cameo and does it perfectly. Rhys Darby plays his typical OTT character (oh! He’s another named, white man - though it’s really a cameo role). I’m not a huge fan of his but I believe most people are - he will be a crowd pleaser.
Some of the jokes are very local. Only New Zealanders will understand why news presenter John Campbell saying the situation was “marvellous” is side-splittingly funny. But I think the film is an example of the good, original things that happen when you have directors with different backgrounds from your typical Amercian or English white man.
The movie is based on a book written by the late Barry Crump. I’d forgotten that he wrote it until the final credits, which was a good thing to forget as he apparently was a domestic abuser (accused if not convicted - I can’t remember off the top of my head who accused him - maybe his then-adult kids?) - but he’s dead and doesn’t benefit from our enjoying this lovely movie.
The film has completely smashed New Zealand opening weekend box office records (ok it’s only $3m over 2 weekends which probably doesn’t sound like much to Americans - but in a country of 4.5 million people that’s a like - what? 1 out of every 7 people going to see it? Did I do maths? It’s 5am here and that may be half-asleep insomnia maths).
To conclude - I'm going to sleep now. See the movie if you like things that are fun and funny.