Eagle vs. Shark dir. by Taika Waititi
Quirky and gentle film about unrequited love, revenge, weird families and shell suits.
I was attracted to this film initially because it features Jemaine Clement (from Flight of the Conchords) as Jarrod, but his co-star Loren Horsley was equally good as Lily, and the film turned out to be a real gem. It’s film with a slightly skewed sense of humour, with some great deadpan lines by the un-redeemably nerdy cast. Lily, who works in a burger bar, has a huge crush on the moody, mullet-haired Jarrod. He is completely oblivious until she turns up at his ‘Favourite Animal’ party (where everyone has to come dressed as their favourite animal, naturally), and gets through to the last round of his ‘Fightman’ videogame tournament. As an indication of the quirky, low-key humour involved, Lily is asked what her gaming nickname is, and she says ‘Dangerous Person’. When she starts the game, everyone stands around waiting while she patiently inputs all the characters of ‘Dangerous Person’ using the game controller. It doesn’t sound funny described like that, but it really made me laugh at the time.
Initially, Lily is a much more likeable character. She’s passive, and you want to shake her and ask her why on earth she’s hanging around with a man as self-involved as Jarrod, but she’s obviously so besotted with him that you end up rooting for her. Jarrod becomes more sympathetic as the film progresses, and we find out more about his family and his relationship with his father and dead brother.
If you liked Napolean Dynamite (and I did), you’ll probably love Eagle vs. Shark.
Good job we're not all the same!…