cinema Reviews
ENTERTAINMENT BY JOHN CAMPBELL
HUNT FOR THE WILDERPEOPLE
Boy was my favourite film of 2011 and, after the uproarious undead spoof of What We Do in the Shadows (2014), Taika Waititi has now come up with another absolute gem. Waititi would probably love to be offered a big-budget gig in Hollywood, but at what price to his integrity and individuality? He wouldn’t be the first director to be emasculated by the machine. As in Boy this story is set in a remote area of New Zealand. Ricky Baker (Julian Dennison), a troubled and troublesome ward of the state, has been left in the care of Hector and Bella Faulkner (Sam Neill and Rima Te Wiata). The kid, a wannabe gangsta rapper, is not happy about the situation, but is beginning to adjust to his new circumstances when an unforeseen event threatens to have him returned to juvenile detention. He and Hector go bush to escape the authorities, crossing miles of rugged countryside, like migrating African wildebeeste – hence the title (the dialogue is rich in such plays on words – there’s also a goodie to
do with Caucasian). It’s a buddy movie, when reduced to its basics, as the old man and young boy come together through adversity, learning to respect and love each other, despite their differences. In between (the screenplay, written by Waititi, based on Barry Crump’s novel, is divided into a dozen chapters) they have to deal with a relentless and Dickensian child-welfare officer (Rachel House), a bunch of yahoos after the reward money that has been offered for anyone who can locate Hector and Ricky, and the challenges of life on the run, including a ferocious wild boar and not having any toilet paper. There are plenty of laugh-out-loud moments as well ones of deep poignancy and – in case you’re a bit squeamish – a couple of scenes of bloody but not gratuitous violence. Waititi’s sense of place and its influence on character is present throughout a narrative that grips tighter as it heads towards an ending that is briefly reminiscent of Thelma And Louise. Unmissable.
THE CONJURING 2: THE ENFIELD CASE
Honestly, I don’t know why anybody would want to live in any dwelling that has a basement (or an attic, for that matter). Bad stuff always happens in them… But they’re essential in a haunted-house movie, and this one is a beauty. Ed and Lorraine Warren were real-life demonologists, paranormal investigators, ghost busters – call them what you will and dismiss them if logic is your guiding star. But they were involved in the case that led to the filming of The Amityville Horro (1979), a classic of the genre, and the spooky activities in a Rhode Island farmhouse that led to the first Conjuring film (2013) – which was also terrific. Again they are played by Patrick Wilson and Vera Farmiga, with James Wan once more at the helm. The location has moved to Enfield (UK), 1977, where, in another recorded incident, a family was being terrorised by a malevolent spirit. Wan understands exactly which buttons to press and, more important, when to press them to scare the living daylights out of you. There is not a door that doesn’t creak, a room without a horribly dark corner or a mirror in which you know for good and certain that a terrifying apparition will suddenly appear. But that’s the thing with the horror flick – being formulaic is a strength rather than a weakness. We sit there waiting to be scared and lap up the cues as they are presented to us. Wan and his cinematographer, Don Burgess, are a little more sophisticated than your average schlock filmmakers, showing great attention to detail and creating truly unnerving atmospherics with some beautiful tracking shots. The house itself, if the photographs shown during the end credits are anything to go by, has been meticulously recreated, while the cold and wet outside environment and sombre palette of greys and greens create an atmosphere of deep dread. The undercurrent of Christianity (as it was in The Exorcist) is hard to swallow, but that was the Warrens’ raison d’etre, so we shouldn’t grumble.
36 June 15, 2016 The Byron Shire Echo
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