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"Does That Eagle
Have Large Talons?" |
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Directed by Taika
Waititi - Written by
Taika Waititi
Starring Jemaine
Clement, Craig Hall,
Loren Horsley, Rachel
House
Brian Sergent, Joel
Tobeck, Jackie van Beek
Distributed by MIRAMAX -
2007 - 88m - Rated R |
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Richard Propes'
Review
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B+ |
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"Napoleon Dynamite" for lovers. |
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"Eagle vs. Shark," the
first film from New Zealand filmmaker Taika Waita, is a surprisingly
sweet and funny tale of two complete and total outcasts quietly
searching for love in a world that doesn't even like them.
Lily (Loren Horsley) is a shy, seemingly demure fast-food worker
with an unspoken crush on the outwardly confident Jarrod (Jermaine
Clement) who frequents her restaurant but seems to avoid her food
line. Their paths cross when Lily works up the nerve to show up at a
"come as your favorite animal" party after being fired from her job.
In whatever way they can, this truly odd couple's relationship
blossoms and, faster than a geek can get stuffed in a locker, Lily
and Jarrod are off to Jarrod's hometown for a weekend so that Jarrod
can face his childhood nemesis.
Horsley is utterly charming and wonderful as Lily, endowing her with
an inner-strength and drive and warmth bringing to mind Miranda
July's marvelous performance in "Me and You and Everyone We Know."
Uncommonly beautiful, Horsley takes a throwaway geek named Lily and
makes her the beautiful young woman that every man dreams about when
dreaming of a wife.
Clement, on the other hand, offers a unique balance of false
confidence, overwhelming immaturity and, yet, a sympathetic humanity
that makes it believable that the vulnerable Lily would fall in love
with him. As Jarrod's secrets begin to reveal themselves, Clement
subtly strikes out, recoils, strikes out, recoils and then, finally,
stops his character dead in his tracks and reaches out ever-so
gently to Lily. It's the sort of dance that all of us do when we
think, but we do not really know how someone will respond to finding
out who we really are.
As beautiful as these two performances are, Waita occasionally
resorts to the recently developed Aussie filmmaking trend of
intermixing quirky cinematic effects, such as cutesie animation
tricks or claymation characters, into the richly authentic
storylines. While this has, at times, worked effectively...in "Eagle
vs. Shark" it is an unnecessary distraction that takes away from the
humanity and depth shared between Lily and Jarrod.
These modest distractions aside, "Eagle vs. Shark" is a delightfully
funny and human look at what, perhaps, would have happened had
Napoleon Dynamite fallen in love. This quirky and offbeat film opens
nationwide in limited release on June 15, 2007 after being picked up
for distribution by Miramax following its current film festival run. |
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© Written by Richard Propes -
Email Me! |
TC Candler's Comment
n/a
Jacob Hall's
Comment
n/a
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