I was recently visiting some family in Paraparaumu, about 40 minutes north of Wellington, and took my young cousins into town to see Taika Waititi's new film Boy. It was their idea, all their friends had been telling them how good it was and it has been one of the highest grossing local productions at the New Zealand box office ever. I knew nothing about it at the time except that I had really enjoyed Waititi's previous film Eagle Vs Shark and loved Flight of the Conchords which he had both written on and directed, besides it was about teenage boys in New Zealand so it seemed perfect for the cousins. 

What surprised me most was that, on watching it, it seemed like the film was actually perfect for me.

Like Waititi's previous work the characters in Boy all have difficulty expressing themselves, it is a childlike world and even the adults behave like children. From this Waititi delivers moments of both joy and tragedy, often at the same time, and his sense of humour can be quite black or deprecating but never mean spirited. The film is beautifully shot by Adam Clark, continuing his excellent work from Eagle Vs Shark, with the local beauty of Waihau Bay and it's soft light adding to the nostalgic, dreamlike feel of the piece. The performances by mostly local non-actors are honest and perfectly pitched, Waititi's directorial skills in full effect making it all hang together so impressively. It deftly treads the line between whimsical and poignant, lighthearted and tragic.

After the film my brother and I couldn't believe how strongly the film had resonated with us. The references were all dead on, the way the kids related was just right and the styling of clothes and cars could have been plucked out of our collective memories. We were the same ages as the two brothers in the film in '84 (I was the younger, magic believing brother Rocky) and that this was the first coming of age film that we had seen that captured our experience. Australian coming of age films had always been rural 50's affairs nostalgic for a world I never saw and the American versions may have depicted the era but not captured the tone of this area at the time. Boy felt like my childhood, albeit with cooler accents. I think it's a point of credit that Americans don't get the humour in Boy, it is too particular to this part of the world.

I was a little worried that most of the references that I got would be lost on my cousins or that some of the darker scenes may have upset them but they both gave it the thumbs up, they had loved it also and found it hilarious though I'm sure for different reasons to myself. It is by all accounts an intensely personal film for Waititi and this is how it appears. It is a phenomenal film full of striking imagery and heartfelt performances that I would recommend to anyone who actually remembers the early 80's but also to to those who have only come across the fashions lately.

4.5/5 Stars

Boy is released locally on August 26th with advanced screenings currently at Nova.

Below is the credit sequence from the film, it features no spoilers but is a wonderful surprise at the end of the film if you choose not to watch it now.

Love a bit of Friday Bowie, don't you?

"No explanation... no mix of words, music or memory could touch the sense of knowing that you were there and alive in that corner of time in the world... Whatever it meant." Hunter S. Thompson - Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas (A Savage Journey into the Heart of the American Dream) (1971).