Boy

New Zealand Maori enclave 1984. ET has captivated the world and so has Michael Jackson. For Boy (James Rolleston) his life is Topsy turvy. His beloved Nan has gone to a funeral. He is looking after the younger siblings, two brothers and a sister. He is also awkward, in love with an older girl and in awe of his mysterious father Alemain (Taika Waititi). He sees him as an adventurer but it is more likely he is a criminal serving time. When Alemain turns up to find buried treasure (his loot from said robbery), well its all going to end badly.

BOY was released in 2010 to praise at Sundance but little fanfare outside of that. It is unfortunate that the New Zealand film didn't get the press it so deserved nor even have any resonance to outside audiences. I would blame the lack of advertising or marketing on the film and the minority view which often is over looked for super heroes punching each other. It might also be that it is from a country that bar Hobbits, is little know for its film making prowess in the international scene. Film fans know it but the person on the omnibus (to coin a phrase) often do not know the films that originate from there.

BOY can be best described as the tale of boys becoming men and men becoming boys. Obvious as this is to most film theorist (the character arc), it not only marks a trend for questioning adult power and child logic but also that coming of age is a universal trend filled with everything we share across the globe. Falling in love, looking for heroes, idols and those we wished to emulate. It also unpacks the realities of family, childhood and adulthood. When you see through eyes once juvenile and innocent, what is now adult and awful. This is all strung together with another series of inter related stories and inter related lives.

So what makes BOY so good? Bar its visual skill at telling its tale and its use of actors (of all ages) without restrictions and with some great engagement. It has a wonderful central performance from James Rolleston. He is emotive, tender, strong and touching. He is the backbone to the piece and through his eyes we enter a world that is often unexplored. Taika Waititi stars but his real skill comes from behind the camera. He paces the scenes. Captures the performance of James. Allowing it to build and build. He also holds the comedy together but strikes it with humour, pathos and tenderness. It never feels absent. It always feels as if you are witnessing a coming of age. A boy literally seeing that idols and heroes are not always what you thought. That people are not compatible with each other even if they are family.



Its sensational. Go buy it...