Eagle vs Shark (Taika Waititi, 2007)
A lot of the time, when you hear observers of the film business talk about how particular films are likely to perform, you hear them theorise about how a particular film might attract a fervent cult following, but has no prospects for wider commercial success because the central characters aren’t “likeable” or – more obscurely – “relatable.” Like most attempts to explain the mysterious alchemy of commercial success, I haven’t generally been impressed by the worth of this notion as a predictor (as opposed to its undoubted value as a self-perpetuating rationalisation for marketing gurus). Yet I kept thinking about it as I mulled over my reaction to Taika Waititi’s comedy Eagle vs Shark.
The film is very funny, charming in its off-centre way, and will undoubtedly find a loyal cult audience. It is a story of two nerds in New Zealand: the timid she-nerd Lily, who works behind the counter at a fast-food restaurant; and the more confident but even more irretrievably nerdish Jarrod. Lily is infatuated with Jarrod, and crashes his party (at which everyone must dress as their favourite animal; she chooses eagle and he chooses shark). The pair start an awkward romance, but Jarrod turns out to be a distracted boyfriend, being much more preoccupied with revenge on a classmate who bullied him at school.
In outline, it should be a massive crowd-pleaser, but I think many will be off-put by the uncompromising approach Waititi takes to his characters. It isn’t Lily, who is touchingly played by Loren Horsley as a study in dogged devotion. Every genre-tuned instinct is waiting for her adoration of Jarrod to be rewarded, and Waititi cleverly plays on that expectation with little touches such as the matching moles on their lips (on opposite ides, so that they touch when the pair kiss). But Waititi and actor Jemaine Clement keep confounding your expectations that Jarrod’s nerdish exterior hides a heart of gold: he really is an irredeemably dislikable man-child. In saying that, I’m not trying to put you off seeing the film. On the contrary, this is a big part of why Eagle vs Shark is worth your movie-going dollar. Jarrod is quite a unique comic creation, largely because Waititi and Clement (mostly) resist the urge to sentimentalise or redeem him.
That this struck me as so unusual made me realise what a good run nerds get in the movies. This might be just the natural affinity for underdogs, or perhaps because so many filmmakers were themselves social outcasts (at least in adolescence). But movie nerds are pretty much always heroes underneath, ever ready to have their better qualities recognised. (Film critics doubtless don’t pick up on this pro-nerd bias because, as the biggest nerds of all, they just accept it as a true and normal portrayal of the world). Eagle vs Shark undercuts that expectation of nerdish goodness, reminding us that when a character is antisocial, just sometimes it’s not just a misunderstanding by society – sometimes the antisocial nerd really just is a prick. Waititi’s tweaking of our expectations in this regard comes to a head towards the end when Jarrod finally confronts his tormentor, and both Jarrod’s and the audience’s expectations about the dynamics between bully and victim are challenged.
The point of comparison in most reviews of Eagle vs Shark has been Napoleon Dynamite, but the film also reminded me a lot of Paul J Hogan’s Muriel’s Wedding. Like that film, Eagle vs Shark centres on a heartfelt performance by a female lead as a socially outcast female; both films also use humour to mask a surprisingly dark view of family and interpersonal relationships. And Muriel’s Wedding similarly undercut the genre expectations by showing that its central characters’ aspirations (in that case, for a big fairy-tale wedding) were misguided. It’s a gutsy thing to do in a comedy where audiences enter with certain expectations, and hopefully the Australian film can provide a precedent for similar box-office success.
Whatever happens, Waititi is obviously a talent to watch, showing a great eye for character, performance and location. While the film has some small issues – the resolution of the Lily and Jarrod romance, and what I felt were pointless animated interludes – it is a very impressive debut feature.