Eagle vs shark12/29/2023 Creating a quirky, whimsical movie featuring two geeks who are awkward and barely able to function in society is difficult to pull off but New Zealand film maker Taika Watiti manages it. On the other hand, you have the fragile Lilly who sings songs about tangerines, lets people walk all over her and dreams about how Jerrod (a regular customer at the fast food restaurant where she works) may one day love her. On one hand you have Jerrod, a twelve-year old boy trapped in a man's body who enjoys making candles, plotting revenge on the school bully that ruined his life and playing the video game 'Fight Man'. "Eagle Vs Shark" is the story of two people considered 'losers' by society and how they might.just might.be right for one another. Thus the title, the endearing characters, and the difficulty deciding if this is an understated farce about the fringes of society or an exaltation of diversity and simplicity. The oddball spirit of the film is embodied in the animal-costume party, for which Jarrod hosts as an eagle and Lily arrives as a shark. Most of the family members are either socially unprepared or physically handicapped, a metaphor for the difficulties of social integration for unsophisticated but good-hearted underachievers. For example, the socially-clumsy Jarrod asks the introverted Lily if she'd like to have sex she immediately replies, "Yep." The fleeting act, in which it takes longer to affix the condom than to perform, is charmingly innocent and inept. I also found comfort as I placed the protagonists in the same lineup with eccentric characters out of the imaginations of Bill Forsythe and David Lynch. After a while, I lost my own condescension and warmed to the simplicity of Lily's love for the obtuse and dorky Jerrod, as well as Jerrod's struggle with his feelings for this lovable flake. This New-Zealand funky romance is partly funded by a fellowship from Sundance, not a guarantee of quality but a sign there might be something more that the initial impression that director Taika Waititi is being condescending to these less than brilliant lovers. Lily (Loren Horsley) is the naïve victim of society's meanness (she loses a job at Meaty Burger, where most of us wouldn't even eat, much less work Jerrod (Jemaine Clement) is a slacker clerk out of Napoleon Dynamite's class. Actually I had to go back to 1971 with John Cassavetes' Minnie and Moskowitz and Hal Ashby's Harold and Maude to find equivalently eccentric couples meeting the challenges of decidedly unromantic love. Shark is not another "inspired-by" high school athletic epic but rather a romantic comedy as strange as you will find this year. Don't miss the director in the flashbacks as Jerrod's "perfect" brother Gordon.Įagle vs. Body language speaks much louder than words. The family relationship issues are complex and handled very realistically as very little is actually said amongst the individuals. As with most things in his life, he doesn't handle the moment very well, but it does become his moment of awakening. Clement's role is gearing up for his big revenge fight against the high school bully. Her crooked smile and expressive eyes are exquisitely charming and as a viewer, we immediately embrace her desire to be loved. She is such a delight and a curiosity on screen. Of the two leads, Jemaine Clement as Jarrod and Loren Horsley as Lily, Clement's role is much flashier, but Ms. Of course it may also be one of the quirkiest films of all time. The multiple story lines involve family relationships, one on ones, self-esteem and self-discovery. While comparisons to "Napoleon Dynamite" are inevitable, writer/director Taika Cohen/Waititi actually delivers much more depth than the cult classic from Idaho.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply.AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |