Jojo Rabbit is part Borat, part Moonrise
Kingdom and part Roberto Benigni’s Life
is Beautiful but confirms Waititi as a brand and auteur (how
refreshing that a marvel film has a unique artistic stamp– this is
clearly the work of the director who made Thor: Ragnarok)
Waititi is unquestionably a
talented comedian. His vocal talents and intonations are hilarious.
A 58 on metacritic and that, no
doubt, is because it reminds many of Benigni’s film and the mixture of
comedy, Nazis, pop music, Hitler, dancing, and Swastikas.
Formal music cue bookends with
The Beatles and David Bowie in German to open and close the film—it
matches (and sets) the films tone (especially the opener with the Nazi propaganda
footage).
It’s not Wes Anderson-level but
there’s real thought in the production design like Ragnarok– there’s a great mise-en-scene production design set
in the dinner room scene with Scarlett’s sweater matching the wallpaper
Scarlett comes off well here—she’s
like a combination of the beauty and class of Marlene Dietrich and the
playful comic like Giulietta Masina
Not all of the sketches land—but
Jojo’s friend, young Archie Yates (yes of course that’s his real name)
kills- I laughed at everything he said
This is one of my favourite films. I really disliked Life is Beautiful, but the concepts and execution in Jojo Rabbit were much better.
On a side note, have you seen Waiti’s new film he stars in? It’s called Free Guy. He’s brilliant in it as usual. I actually think the film was terrific as well. It was like a blend of the short film Paperman along with The Matrix, The Truman Show, Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind and GroundHog Day. It was executed brilliantly. Some scenes were absolutely phenomenal. I’m just curious if you’ve seen it or not.
I really want to hear your thoughts on it when you see it! I feel like this is the type of movie you’d like. Do you have a date planned when you are going to watch it? I think it has so many parallels with the movies I mentioned before that I think you’ll love seeing as a cinephile. I know you look out for comparisons/similarities between movies, and it’s something I started doing since I saw your website for the first time.
Here are a few thing I think you can look out for in the film. Look out for the beach scenes (as well as many others) which are very reminiscent of Eternal Sunshine. There’s a repeated shot of Reynolds in his bed constantly waking up and repeating the same day which I thought was excellent film form and reminded me a lot of Groundhog Day. The music adds to the film form as well. The movie also shares a TON of similarities with the 7 minute film called Paperman (the same music as well) and the fact that I had seen Paperman before certainly enhanced my experience as I noticed the similarities and the vision of the director. The movie also has constant references to Marvel, Star Wars etc.
Not only did I find the film form, music and film references great, but the acting is often brilliant, the CGI very well done, dialogue great (for the most part) and some cinematography shots/lighting is great as well (which out for the game room scenes).
Anyway, I probably rambled on too much haha. It’s just that I liked this movie a lot and I get excited talking about it. There’s a reason many critics have collectively called it ‘the surprise of the summer’. Like I said before, I’ll be really excited to hear your thoughts once you do see the movie.
This is one of my favourite films. I really disliked Life is Beautiful, but the concepts and execution in Jojo Rabbit were much better.
On a side note, have you seen Waiti’s new film he stars in? It’s called Free Guy. He’s brilliant in it as usual. I actually think the film was terrific as well. It was like a blend of the short film Paperman along with The Matrix, The Truman Show, Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind and GroundHog Day. It was executed brilliantly. Some scenes were absolutely phenomenal. I’m just curious if you’ve seen it or not.
@Azman- thanks for the comment- I have not yet caught Free Guy- thanks for sharing this though- sounds intriguing.
I really want to hear your thoughts on it when you see it! I feel like this is the type of movie you’d like. Do you have a date planned when you are going to watch it? I think it has so many parallels with the movies I mentioned before that I think you’ll love seeing as a cinephile. I know you look out for comparisons/similarities between movies, and it’s something I started doing since I saw your website for the first time.
Here are a few thing I think you can look out for in the film. Look out for the beach scenes (as well as many others) which are very reminiscent of Eternal Sunshine. There’s a repeated shot of Reynolds in his bed constantly waking up and repeating the same day which I thought was excellent film form and reminded me a lot of Groundhog Day. The music adds to the film form as well. The movie also shares a TON of similarities with the 7 minute film called Paperman (the same music as well) and the fact that I had seen Paperman before certainly enhanced my experience as I noticed the similarities and the vision of the director. The movie also has constant references to Marvel, Star Wars etc.
Not only did I find the film form, music and film references great, but the acting is often brilliant, the CGI very well done, dialogue great (for the most part) and some cinematography shots/lighting is great as well (which out for the game room scenes).
Anyway, I probably rambled on too much haha. It’s just that I liked this movie a lot and I get excited talking about it. There’s a reason many critics have collectively called it ‘the surprise of the summer’. Like I said before, I’ll be really excited to hear your thoughts once you do see the movie.
@Azman- This is good-thanks again. I’ll come back to this after I’m able to watch it. I don’t have a specific date yet to get to it.
Have you seen the Suicide Squad? I saw that today and I thought it was good. It also has Taka Waititi in it.
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