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Jojo Rabbit, Nazi comedy by Taika Waititi

Started by samadriel, September 04, 2019, 02:58:58 PM

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samadriel

https://youtu.be/tL4McUzXfFI

"A Jew!"
"Gesundheit."

Looks pretty good to me, I'm looking forward to seeing how they make such a light-looking movie out of such a heavy context. What say you, 'Whores?

Shit Good Nose

I'm on the fence with Waititi's stuff (but that's more to do with the fact that I've never really found Aussie or Kiwi comedy particularly funny), but he talks about it in the Kermode On Film podcast, episode 6 to be precise (which is a pretty good episode all round, with Kermode visiting a couple of locations from Peeping Tom, a chat with Bill Forsyth about Local Hero, and Sylvia Syms right on form at a BFI event).

bgmnts

Nazi comedy is boring as fuck so i'm quite not arsed.

Although vampire comedy is a bit played out too and What We Do in the Shadows is very funny. So who knows.

Mister Six

#3
Well this was rather wonderful. I went in sort of expecting it to be a fairly straight drama with Waititi's Hitler as the lone wacky element, but it's a proper laugh-fest, and packed with silly gags (sometimes slightly to its detriment), though it does of course treat the Holocaust with appropriate deference.

Roman Griffin Davis as Jojo gives probably one of the best child performances I've seen in years. Which sounds like damning with faint praise, but he's superb and holds his own just fine against Rockwell and Johannsen, who themselves give sterling performances. Johannsen in particular gets some wonderful scenes, and portrays both her character's true vulnerable self and the impervious mother figure she has to be for Jojo with aplomb. Waititi is great, of course, but as an actor he doesn't have to do much more than camp it up like mad - which he absolutely succeeds at.

However, it's as a writer/director where he shines the most. Sure, he reuses a couple of shots from Wilderpeople and his insistence on cramming gags into the (otherwise disturbing) battle sequence comes across as either mildly tasteless or slightly desperate or both. But he has a keen eye for a gorgeous shot, gets fantastic performances out of the entire cast and (for the most part) masterfully manipulates the tonal shifts of the film from knockabout comedy to heart-wrenching drama and back.

I'd have maybe lost the clones as a step too far into silliness, and I don't understand why Rebel Wilson's character exists, except perhaps that he wrote her into the camping scene and figured she needed to stick around, but for the most part I wouldn't change a thing. Smashing stuff.

bgmnts

Okay well into this now, proper 180'd. Nice to see a film starring Stephen Merchant and Sam Rockwell.

chveik

nazi germany is such a great laughing matter.

Mister Six

(insert Waxwork Rene jpg)

At least nobody's made a comedy about Islamic terrorists. Can you imagine?

Quote from: bgmnts on November 12, 2019, 02:44:06 PM
Okay well into this now, proper 180'd. Nice to see a film starring Stephen Merchant and Sam Rockwell.

Stephen Merchant's a weak link, admittedly. Looks the part of a Gestapo officer but can't pull it off. He's only in one scene (and a fraction of another) though.



Famous Mortimer

I loved it. I wish I had something more to say, but it's a great film.

phantom_power

Quote from: chveik on November 12, 2019, 02:50:36 PM
nazi germany is such a great laughing matter.

I can't believe no-one told him that Nazis were bad


Brundle-Fly

Quote from: phantom_power on November 13, 2019, 07:35:15 AM
I can't believe no-one told him that Nazis were bad

...and I've just had this movie recommended to me by a couple of big old Jewish friends, but what do they know?

chveik

tbf I think that To Be or Not Be is great but this one looks too silly for its own sake

Brundle-Fly

Quote from: chveik on November 13, 2019, 11:17:57 PM
tbf I think that To Be or Not Be is great but this one looks too silly for its own sake

and tbf to you, one of my 'big old Jewish friends' father walked out of the cinema at the Mel Brooks remake in 1983. It's a tricky subject.

Ferris

Tried to get into the TIFF premier of this with a friend of mine, but we accidentally smoked an incredibly strong (legal) joint of drugs and we had to walk very slowly home instead.

Looks great though. Really looking forward to seeing it.

Dex Sawash

Quote from: FerriswheelBueller on November 14, 2019, 02:59:13 AM
Tried to get into the TIFF premier of this with a friend of mine, but we accidentally smoked an incredibly strong (legal) joint of drugs and we had to walk very slowly home instead.

Looks great though. Really looking forward to seeing it.

Being to high for _______  is really grand.

studpuppet

Quote from: chveik on November 12, 2019, 02:50:36 PM
nazi germany is such a great laughing matter.

https://www.mhpbooks.com/books/dead-funny/

Film looks interesting - my half-German children's grandparents were born during the war (one left from each side) so it'll be intriguing to see what they pick up from it (especially as they're currently doing WW2 from the winner's perspective at school).

Noodle Lizard

I turned it off about halfway through. Must have been in the wrong mood, but it felt like Wes Anderson doing half-arsed Nazi whimsy.

Small Man Big Horse


Zetetic

Quote from: Brundle-Fly on November 14, 2019, 12:07:58 AM
and tbf to you, one of my 'big old Jewish friends' father walked out of the cinema at the Mel Brooks remake in 1983. It's a tricky subject.
I wasn't aware there was a remake, and I was just thinking that I'd probably like To Be or Not To Be a lot less if I thought it had been made in 1948, for example, even.


Small Man Big Horse

Hmmm, I've mixed feelings about this, some of it's superb (the opening twenty minutes especially) but when he meets Jewy McJewJew Elsa it takes a downturn and becomes a bit bland, and doesn't pick up again until Stephen Merchant's pantomime-esque turn (which unlike Mister Six I loved), and then the rest of it's good but not great until the end which I really liked. I guess I'm glad I watched it, but I'm also glad I didn't pay to see it. 7.0/10

FYI the "screener" that just leaked is a camrip with an ad for a Thai betting website every 20 mins. Avoid.

olliebean

Quote from: Carpool Dragon on December 21, 2019, 10:48:15 PM
FYI the "screener" that just leaked is a camrip with an ad for a Thai betting website every 20 mins. Avoid.

Looks like a real screener to me.

Ferris

1/5 review for this in the Grauniad I notice.

Mind you, the Graun isn't known for its judgement.

Small Man Big Horse

Quote from: Carpool Dragon on December 21, 2019, 10:48:15 PM
FYI the "screener" that just leaked is a camrip with an ad for a Thai betting website every 20 mins. Avoid.

The one I downloaded (via RarBg) wasn't, it was a good quality rip free of any ads or anything like that.

Quote from: FerriswheelBueller on December 21, 2019, 11:13:32 PM
1/5 review for this in the Grauniad I notice.

Mind you, the Graun isn't known for its judgement.

By CaB favourite Peter Bradshaw, even though I didn't like the film as much as some I'd still say it's a pile of nonsense.

That's what I get for using the poxy pirate bay.

Head Gardener

Quote from: olliebean on November 12, 2019, 05:20:52 PM
Only in a camcorder-smuggled-into-cinema version, AFAICS.

saw this last night and loved it, good quality screeners are available





weekender

^Thanks for the link.  Managed to source a HQ rip from elsewhere, but it's always nice to have another link, isn't it?

I was going to write a review, but SMBH has captured my exact thoughts in this succinct review:

Quote from: Small Man Big Horse on December 21, 2019, 08:20:12 PM
Hmmm, I've mixed feelings about this, some of it's superb (the opening twenty minutes especially) but when he meets Jewy McJewJew Elsa it takes a downturn and becomes a bit bland, and doesn't pick up again until Stephen Merchant's pantomime-esque turn (which unlike Mister Six I loved), and then the rest of it's good but not great until the end which I really liked. I guess I'm glad I watched it, but I'm also glad I didn't pay to see it. 7.0/10

I don't have anything to add to that.

Puce Moment

I'm assuming this is fairly cinematic so I am going to see it at the flix. Comedy lands better for me in cinemas as well.