10th Anniversary of Taika Waititi’s comedy film: Hunt For The Wilderpeople (2016).
It seems strange to be celebrating or for any film to be garnering a re-release only ten years after it’s initial release, but we do seem to be living in strange times and Disney have just released a live-action Moana ten years after the animated feature.
However, the re-release of Taika Waititi’s coming of age tale has been given added poignancy, due to the untimely death of the film’s lead Sam Neill in July of this year.
Waititi who is now a world-renowned director, and Academy Award winner has helmed such Marvel steamrollers as Thor: Ragnorak, shows his directorial chops here and his instinctive charm to create intimate tales with universal themes.
Hunt For The Wilderpeople is about the searching for a family and a place to call home. Ricky Baker (Julian Dennison) is without a home, at the start of the film he is fostered to his new home in a remote part of New Zealand. He has a genuine growing connection with his foster Aunt before she tragically passes away abruptly. This leaves Ricky with his cantankerous grumpy uncle Hec (Neill).
While Ricky tries to leave the house for the wild bush, Hec follows and shortly the two are on the run as a manhunt ensues. The two misfits must work together to survive.
Throughout, there is a cleverness and wit to the men on the lam; when Ricky is having problems with his rations (having eaten them all within hours of leaving), he envisages a cream cake on a tree stump, he is actually imagining the cream cake is the faithful dog. And then Hec appears as a talking hamburger. The wit is clear to see and the visual humour runs throughout, from Ricky also attempting to warm up his hot water bottle over a burning fire.
There is a calmness pervading over the film, this is a film-maker who is not being rushed and someone who adores his homeland. It portrays New Zealand as his own personal playground.
There are echoes of Son of Rambow (2007) a film of personal growth mixed with the innocence of youth. Waititi shows his ambition in spades on the screen from his handling of tone throughout – comedic moments mixed with moments of drama and the tension of the pursuit.
The film ultimately is a reminder of the great pedigree and talent of Sam Neill; perhaps the finest actor to emerge from Australia and New Zealand. A man who worked for forty plus years in Hollywood but never forgot his own roots. The film was a marked return to the industry he had always cherished; his gruff Hec whose hard exterior slowly melts over the run time could easily have been by the numbers but Neill with his years of experience both personally and professionally adds layers to a familiar character.
Hunt For The Wilderpeople is obtaining a 4K Blu-ray release on 17th August with a limited cinema release for the 10th anniversary on 7th August.
My thanks to Vertigo Releasing/Northern Bird PR for the review opportunity.
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