The Case for a Boy About

Trying to find a suitable film for foreign eyes, I took my cousin to see Boy, the new Kiwi film from the talented Taika Waititi/Cohen, who takes a lot of credits for this film, including writing and directing, as well as featuring in a major role. But the star of this film is Boy himself, Alamein, and his adventures for the few weeks that his Dad comes back into his life.

The accents are thick and fast but (I was assured) comprehensible to those not well versed in the small town version of New Zealand English. But the deluge of references both New Zealand in space and 80s in time (such as the TV Kiwi and the Cat closedown song, 80s classic Poi E and even the back notes) were no doubt completely lost, though there were enough well-known international nods to set the scene for a non native viewer.

Looking back at the film, the story itself is fairly amoral and occasionally quite shocking: kids home alone have not been fashionable since the Culkin kid days, there is the odd bit of abuse that the so-called “anti smacking” bill would have had (will have had?) a field day with; and something tells me the kids’ curriculum predates Tomorrow’s Schools.

Not that it matters really. The film is not a serious attempt at social commentary, and the 80s background sets up an uncomplicated film from an era that seemed just that little bit more innocent and naïve. There are similar themes to movies like Whale Rider and (to a much less unbrutal extent) Once Were Warriors, but here there is no real redemption through traditional Maori custom, just people dealing with life as it comes. In that regard, it’s a bit more like Eagle versus Shark, another quirky and humorous Waititi/Cohen effort, than the aforementioned movies.

Trying to explain the plot and describe what goes on is to potentially rob people of the joys of the film and ruin the sense of familiarity that washes over people like me, raised in a small town in that era and so, to a degree, familiar with the rhythms of that way of life (ahhh, Popsicles). So I will suffice it to say that, while I did not belly laugh as hard as the rest of the easily entertained audience (well, it was the Lighthouse in Petone and the audience was of the older, probably loved Death at a Funeral variety), I smiled a lot and let out a guffaw or two at a few of the choicest lines (a brief cameo by an Outrageous Fortune regular as one of Alamein’s teachers was an hilarious verbal highlight) and was fully entertained – well, as much as anyone can be while anxiously yet subtley trying to ascertain whether my cousin was enjoying herself as well. *

Verdict: A great movie, very light and frothy, with no real layers to complicate the demands of the audience. I am not sure how well the 80s backdrop was actually maintained (I was fairly sure the TV2 logo displayed was not a mid 80s one, although I am getting older and so my memories of that time may be corrupted), but then one should not really engaged one’s critical faculties when viewing Boy as that is really not the point. 7.5 moonwalk steps out of 10.

* She loved it, BTW