Hunt for the Wilderpeople
(2016, d. Taika Waititi)
What a lovely little film. The latest from Taika Waititi, director of
What We Do in the Shadows and the upcoming
Thor: Ragnarok, is a funny, quirky, sweet and touching slice of adventure and comedy. With its title chapters and a streak of absurdist humour running throughout there is a definite touch of Wes Anderson about the film, perhaps most closely resembling
Moonrise Kingdom. In fact where I to sum up the film I might describe it as a bit like a live-action version of
Up, directed by Anderson. As such I would definitely recommend to fans of his work. However even for those who struggle with his films (hey Vicky
) don't let that comparison put you off.
Wilderpeople has much more of an edge to it than Anderson's typical output, and is lacking in the twee cosiness that can often mark Wes' work. As I said this is quite a touching, heartfelt film. What I liked about that though is that I felt the film earned those moments; they don't feel forced.
For the large majority of its running time the film is a two-hander between Sam Neill's grumpy Uncle Hec and Julian Dennison's husky, haiku-writing troublemaker. They may be a million miles apart in terms of screen experience (it was Dennison's third credit while Neill's credits now number 122 according to imdb) but they are both excellent and most importantly they work together fantastically well. Neill brings a lot of colour and character to the gruff, introverted Hec while Dennsion gives a wonderfully natural performance and displays some tremendous comic timing throughout. That kid made me laugh so many times. Rachel House is also a lot of fun as a demented, psychotically determined social worker, while Rhys Darby has a scene-stealing extended cameo as a reclusive and deranged survivalist.
The film does start quite slowly, leading me to wonder if it was going to significantly fail to live up to the hype of all its glowing reviews. However once the action moves into the bush and the characters find themselves on the run the film picks up and improves markedly. It also earns bonus points also for its fun, quirky soundtrack and some beautiful photography of the New Zealand wilderness
One of my favourite films of the year so far. In fact I'd currently have it as either my second or third favourite. Utterly charming. I can envisage this being a film that could really grow on me over time.
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