Eagle vs Shark

Taika Waititi's directorial debut is a warm, fizzy & eccentric delight concerning two socially-awkward misfits and covers their wickedly amusing yet strangely alluring journey to finding love. Expertly blending elements of comedy, drama, tragedy & romance into an oddball yet heartfelt mix, Eagle vs Shark finds the then-new filmmaker trying to carve his own narrative voice and is a sincere effort by all means.

Also written by Waititi, the premise is simple, the stakes are small, the characters are quirky, and although the story comes pierced with themes of loss, longing, neglect & alienation, the witty approach & lighthearted treatment still makes it a fun & fascinating sit without diluting the emotions brewing beneath the surface. Waititi walks a fine line here and deftly balances the emotional beats with excellent comedic touches.

The idiosyncratic characters are sketched with heart & presented with compassion, plus the inadequacy in their persona only adds to their humanity. Jemaine Clement plays a bum geek with panache and is able to find tenderness in his selfish & petulant character. Loren Horsley is in as the shy, wistful girl with a crush on our dweeb loser and chips in with a sweet, silent & endearing performance that stands out with surprising ease.

Overall, Eagle vs Shark is somewhat rough around the edges & required more polishing but it nonetheless makes for a simple, funny & whimsical rom-com, thanks to Waititi's apt direction and brilliant inputs from its leading duo Finding humour in tragedy, making sure that dramatic & comedic bits remain in sync at all times, and commencing the debutant filmmaker's journey on a promising note, this small, light & satisfying indie is definitely worth a shot.

Eagle vs. Shark is not another "inspired-by" high school athletic epic but rather a romantic comedy as strange as you will find this year. Actually I had to go back to 1971 with John Cassavetes' Minnie and Moskowitz and Hal Ashby's Harold and Maude to find equivalently eccentric couples meeting the challenges of decidedly unromantic love. Lily (Loren Horsley) is the naïve victim of society's meanness (she loses a job at Meaty Burger, where most of us wouldn't even eat, much less work; Jerrod (Jemaine Clement) is a slacker clerk out of Napoleon Dynamite's class.

This New-Zealand funky romance is partly funded by a fellowship from Sundance, not a guarantee of quality but a sign there might be something more that the initial impression that director Taika Waititi is being condescending to these less than brilliant lovers. After a while, I lost my own condescension and warmed to the simplicity of Lily's love for the obtuse and dorky Jerrod, as well as Jerrod's struggle with his feelings for this lovable flake. I also found comfort as I placed the protagonists in the same lineup with eccentric characters out of the imaginations of Bill Forsythe and David Lynch.

For example, the socially-clumsy Jarrod asks the introverted Lily if she'd like to have sex; she immediately replies, "Yep." The fleeting act, in which it takes longer to affix the condom than to perform, is charmingly innocent and inept.

Most of the family members are either socially unprepared or physically handicapped, a metaphor for the difficulties of social integration for unsophisticated but good-hearted underachievers. The oddball spirit of the film is embodied in the animal-costume party, for which Jarrod hosts as an eagle and Lily arrives as a shark. Thus the title, the endearing characters, and the difficulty deciding if this is an understated farce about the fringes of society or an exaltation of diversity and simplicity. You decide.

Eagle Vs. Shark is a quirky comedy from New Zealand, with "Flight Of The Conchords" Jermaine Clement, and a cast of unknowns.

It's a very funny film, with some good directing and a decent score. My only quip is it feels like it's been done before...(read more)e. The wall paper and tapestries remind instantly of that legendary Garden State scene, there's animation of the Michel Gondry arts and crafts vein, a little blonde girl who very much resembles a certain Little Miss Sunshine, a leading man doing his best Napolean Dynamite, and a leading lady playing a dotting, kind hearted, quite woman ala Miranda July in "Me and You etc". Yes there all here including a soundtrack of obligatory indie pop, I heard a Devandra Banheart cover of "Body Breaks".

That being said, the movie works. It's funny, painfully awkward, mean, and consistently goofy. Loren Horsley gives a terrific performance as "Lily" the films hero, who is at the beginning of the film for reasons never clearly expressed absolutely in love with clueless uber-loser Jarred. The two get together at an Animal Dress up party, and all's well until Lily discovers Jarred is planning to get revenge on a man who bullied him in high school (which seems to be his only really coherent thought). So its off to Jarred's home town, and uncertain revenge and love.

Jarred is ridiculously unlikable, and Lily has the loving patience of a saint, it's the sheer awkwardness of the performances which make any of this believable, the little ticks like the compulsive lying, the monotone speech, awkward stance, clothes, droll humor. The performers really drive home the story well which in the hands of others could have been God awful.

Though writer/director Taika Cohen has borrowed a lot of elements from other films working in similar fields, he does so naturally, with a poise, grace, and nerdiness, left out of a lot of the quirky, funny, hip, indie rom-coms. Nothing brilliant, but a solid comedy, that plays better to absurd than it does thoughtful, but I laughed all the way through, and would recommend to others, if it sounds like the thing for you. It's pluses easily beat out it's minuses.

I'm not really into actors, or following "the stars', but Loren Horsley's performance here was really kind of enchanting, and I would definitely be interested in seeing her again. "I am...Dangerous Person..."

I really liked this film, I went into thinking it was going to be an off beat comedy with no real substance. Surprisingly it was not only a comedy it actually had a plot and significant character ark. I think that is what really separates it from Napoleon Dynamite which also explores outsiders. In this film the characters grow and recognize things about themselves. The humor is still very much there and the actors do a great job with their characters. There is also some really cool cinematography and animation in the film that was an unexpected bonus. The scenery was really amazing it made me want to go to New Zealand! I would highly recommend this film. It was really entertaining for me and I really liked the accents!

"Eagle Vs Shark" is the story of two people considered 'losers' by society and how they might...just might...be right for one another. On one hand you have Jerrod, a twelve-year old boy trapped in a man's body who enjoys making candles, plotting revenge on the school bully that ruined his life and playing the video game 'Fight Man'. On the other hand, you have the fragile Lilly who sings songs about tangerines, lets people walk all over her and dreams about how Jerrod (a regular customer at the fast food restaurant where she works) may one day love her.

Creating a quirky, whimsical movie featuring two geeks who are awkward and barely able to function in society is difficult to pull off but New Zealand film maker Taika Watiti manages it. What makes this movie different to many others which focus on similar characters is that "Eagle Vs Shark" never stoops to mocking its characters despite the opportunity to do so. The audience is invited to share in their hopes and defeats, rather than stand back and laugh at their offbeat behaviour. It is a romantic comedy about two characters who are ill-suited to the genre (Lilly wears her shark costume while lying in bed with Jerrod for example).

Whilst both leads are magnificent, Loren Horsley is the real find here. With her wide innocent eyes, crooked smile and shy demeanour, she creates a character which you can truly connect with. Jerrod may be a complete jerk and oblivious to everyone around him but you never doubt that Lilly truly loves him. She's the type of girl who fades into the background of any room and Horsley manages to convey her joy and heartbreak in a way that you really want her to have a happy ending. Jermaine Clement as Jerrod is a lot harder to warm to because of his actions (and inactions) throughout the movie but ultimately you come to share Lilly's faith that the two are right for one another.

It's hard to avoid the comparisons to "Napoleon Dynamite" when reviewing "Eagle VS Shark". The deadpan deliveries of the characters in both movies is similar and the tone is almost identical. It's safe to assume that if you hated "Napoleon Dynamite" then you're absolutely going to loathe "Eagle VS Shark". Everyone else should give this movie a chance. Like the characters it features, it's not perfect but, like love, it's an uplifting experience.

Awkward. Quirky. Wonderful.

Recommended.