Jojo Rabbit
Dir. Taika Waititi / Dur. 108 mins / Country. USA
Festival Strand:- Headline Gala
In A Nutshell:- A young Hitler youth (accompanied by imaginary friend Adolf Hitler) discovers a Jewish girl hiding in his loft in the latest comedy from Waititi
The Good:- Waititi has a knack for crafting comedies that, as well as being funny, contain a tremendous amount of heart. Jojo Rabbit is no exception, despite the somewhat unusual nature of the subject matter (there really haven’t been a huge number of comedies about Nazi Germany for some reason). In large part, this is helped by a strong cast. Another of Waititi’s knacks is in casting young actors who are genuinely good and more than capable of carrying a feature film themselves (James Rolleston in Boy and Julian Dennison in Hunt For The Wilderpeople) - he’s hit success again with Roman Griffin Davis as the eponymous Jojo. Archie Yates as Yorki is also good fun (but thankfully used sparingly). Thomasin Mackenzie, who was great in Leave No Trace, has more of the emotional heavy lifting for which she is more than capable and the adult cast are all of top form too with Sam Rockwell, Rebel Wilson and Stephen Merchant providing strong comedy support. Of course, the standout though goes to Taika Waititi himself as a child’s imagined version of Adolf Hitler - another top comic performance from Waititi and a lot broader than some of his more deadpan previous roles.
The Bad:- Scarlett Johansson is good as Jojo’s mother but didn’t quite seem to fully gel for me for some reason. Alfie Allen feels a little wasted in his role as the subtly hinted lover of Sam Rockwell’s Nazi captain as it doesn’t seem to amount to much but it’s a minor niggle.
The Verdict:- It was exactly what I was hoping for from a Taika Waititi film -funny and silly with an immense amount of heart. Easily one of the highlights of the festival.
The Venue / Intro / Q&A:- Early membership booking paid off as I had a second row seat for an intro from Taika Waititi, Roman Griffin Davis, Thomasin Mackenzie, Archie Yates and Alfie Allen along with producer Carthew Neal. Waititi was on top form, peking from behind the curtain before his entrance, mock-falling on the way to the stage and starting to go through and thank/compliment every single member of the audience for turning up. He commented on the perception of the subject matter (“it’s been 80 years since the last Hitler comedy, The Great Dictator. Too soon?”) and talked a little bit about adapting it from the original book. All in all, a fun intro to the film and one that I’m glad I was there for!
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