CityBeat - Te Waha Nui Online

by Becky Tappin

Oscar-nominated Kiwi director Taika Waititi was expected to impress with his first feature length film. And for me, Eagle vs Shark delivers it in spades.

Eagle vs Shark revolves around the lives of two geeky and extremely awkward young people, Jarrod (Jemaine Clement) and Lily (Loren Horsley), who meet at the local burger bar where Lily works.

Video store clerk Jarrod is surprisingly impressed by the ever-so timid,Lily’s shark costume, and astonished at her video game skills at his party. The pair subsequently become embroiled in a night of nerdily- awkward and amusing passion.

However, it isn’t all plain sailing for this socially inept couple. Their relationship hits a rough patch when Jarrod takes Lily back to his home town to pursue his act of revenge upon his high school nemesis.

Lily is forced to acquaint herself with Jarrod’s oddball family, including his nine-year-old daughter Vinny, while he wiles away his days training for the fight of his life.

The film has been compared to the 2004 hit Napoleon Dynamite, but I felt that the film carried an extremely “Kiwi” sense of humour and storyline that possibly only New Zealanders would understand and appreciate to its truest extent.

Waititi said after the NZ screening in Auckland that many when it opened in the States many viewers overanalysed the story.

“It is a film about a geeky guy and a geeky girl, who somehow, despite their personal flaws manage to get through life’s challenges and laugh about it. It is really not that deep,” he said.

Set in Titahi Bay, Wellington, the film is laden with some astounding scenery, and there is a hint of Kiwiana in every scene - whether it is the unmistakeable New Zealand twang or the well-known actors who pop up throughout the film, such as Joel Tobeck and Madeleine Sami.

Eagle vs Shark is a very simple film, with simple characters portrayed extremely effortlessly by Horlsey and Clement among others. The jokes will make you laugh and the story will make you feel awkwardness, compassion, sympathy, and may even make you cringe at times.

At its heart, Eagle vs Shark is a Kiwi-made film, and is more suited to a Kiwi audience - which might explain some of the mixed reviews it’s had overseas. Regardless, it’s well worth a watch if you’re in the mood for a light, humorous, indie rom-com.