Boy

Boy, a film that takes its strength from its simplicity, is a coming of age story set in the early eighties in rural New Zealand. Boy, an eleven year old… boy, lives with his younger brother Rocky and various cousins, all under the watch of his Nan. Just as she leaves town for a funeral Boy’s father, Alamein, returns after a long absence, searching for a bag of loot that he buried in a paddock years before.

Boy of course worships the image of his father as the rebel he tries to present himself to be, proudly touting his two friends as the first members of his new gang. But this image cannot be maintained as the reality of Alamein, played by writer and director Taika Waititi, begins to seep in. Boy’s father, rather than being a courageous rogue is a deadbeat, barely able to look after himself let alone his two sons. This affects Boy more than Rocky, who doesn’t even know Alamein or his own mother, her having died giving birth to the younger son, nor does he seem particularly interested in this new male figure in his life, spending most of his time at his mother’s grave or hanging out with the local recluse.

On the surface the story is dramatic, the loss of innocence in an eleven year old boy at the hands of an inadequate family life, but Waititi has created this vehicle off the back of directing the Flight of the Conchords series as well as the offbeat Eagle vs. Shark, so the order of the day is a dead pan humour and weirdness that makes this film really special. Tragedy and loss hang around the edges of this film, sometimes invading the amazing wild setting of the New Zealand landscape, but all of this is carried with an amazing lightness, refusing to drag the story down into a tragic mire. There are so many truly whimsical and funny moments in this film that aren’t there to act as comic relief, rather to highlight the non-linear nature of day-to-day life. The kids in this film deal with their parents’ substance abuse and neglect with resignation; they won’t truly reflect on their situation until adulthood, and at this time it is simply a fact of life.

And with that it’s the performance and characterisation of the kids that is the strongest part of this film. James Rolleston who plays Boy carries the role beautifully, reflecting a story where even though the evidence continues to mount pointing to Alamein being a disappointment, Boy cannot give up the fact that this loser is his father, his inability to win a fight or contain his anger not changing the fact that they are related. Boy is shown at a point where his childhood is beginning to end, and where his actions, his pride, his love and sense of responsibility to his family, his anger, could lead him anywhere. It’s funny and moving and most of all refreshing.

TRANSMISSION FILMS PRESENTS

Release Date:
In cinemas nationally 26 August, 2010