Film-Tech Forum ARCHIVE: Boy

This is topic Boy in forum Film Handlers' Movie Reviews at Film-Tech Forum ARCHIVE.

To visit this topic, use this URL:
https://ft-forum.com/ft/cgi-bin/ubb/ultimatebb.cgi?ubb=get_topic;f=4;t=001693

Posted by Stu Jamieson (Member # 4626) on 08-28-2010, 07:53 PM:

Boy is Kiwi director Taika Waititi's follow up to his excellent tragicomedy, Eagle vs Shark and is New Zealand's highest grossing local film to date (yep bigger than Once Were Warriors, Whale Rider and The World's Fastest Indian). Set in 1984 in Hicksville (or is that Hecksvelle) NZ, a time of Michael Jackson worship and where kids are named Rocky, Chardonay, Dallas, Dynasty (and Falcon Crest) or just plain "Boy". Boy (James Rolleston) idolises his absent father, Alamein (played by the director), fantasizing him as a war hero, a deep sea diver and a prison escapee who broke his bonds with but a spoon as his tool. Oh and he can also dance just like Michael Jackson (to whom he's also related). But when Alamein returns home (albeit fleetingly), Boy realises his father is disappointingly far from what he imagined.

Like Eagle vs Shark before it, Boy trades on a self-deprecatory, introspective style (attributes sadly long absent from Aussie cinema) and a delicate mixture of tragedy and comedy. Such a combination is a delicate balancing act, however, and Boy has a tendency to overstretch the comic aspects to compensate for it's overbearing dramatic elements. Eagle vs Shark walks this fine line much more admirably and this is largely due to it's central performance by Loren Horsley (who also co-wrote the story Waititi). By contrast, Boy suffers somewhat by it's reliance on chiefly youngster's performances and this costs the film the degree of charm required to lift it out of the gloom.

Regardless, though, there is still plenty to enjoy here. Waititi continues his penchant for entertaining off-the-wall animation intercuts and the film is packed full of little vignettes of clichéd Kiwi culture including a Michael Jackson-inspired Thriller Haka which is a cracker. The central theme of how we idolise our parents disproportionately to reality also hits close to home.

For a small independent movie which hits the funny bone and the heart in almost equal measure, you can do a lot worse than this. Recommended.

7 out of 10.

Posted by Graham Ritchie (Member # 5226) on 09-01-2010, 07:18 PM:

Its been almost three months since we watched this film at the cinema and its certainly one of the best thats been around for a long while. Taika Waititi wrote, directed and starred in this film, his character as Boy's dad Alameinn and was shot entirely in the area of Waihau Bay.

The film starts of lighthearted enough with plenty of humour, however as the director has now got your attention things start to get serious mainly with Boy's father returning after a long absence, not so much for his family but for the money he has previously buried and is unable to find. Boy does idolize his dad and wants to be just like him but in time he sees him for what he really is, a small time looser who is into booze and drugs and thats when the world of Boy begins to fall apart eventually leading to a violent confrontation between him and his dad.

Alameinn at last begins to do a bit of soul searching and discards his gang patch, through out the film both Boy his dad and his younger brother Rocky are still coming to terms with the loss of his mother and its not until the final scenes at the graveside with the three of them together you feel that there is still hope when young Rocky with his vivid imagination looks at his dad and says.....so how was Japan then! [Smile]

Lasty, after a few end credits the entire cast do a dance tribute to Michael Jackson and its brilliant.

All up this low budget film with little or no advertising ran here in this city for around 16 weeks and if it wasen't for the fact that the film distributor wanted all the 35mm prints back to go to Aussie we would still be running it. [Smile]

If you get a chance go and see it [Smile]

Graham.