JOJO RABBIT - Taika Waititi weirdness ++++++

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My local independent cinema (Broadway Letchworth) is showing it several times. Will be going to see it at some point in the next week.
 
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Absolutely beautiful film, very emotional at times. As mentioned above the shoes bit. The bit with Sam Rockwells character at the end as well (or indeed any scenes he's in!).


Indeed.


I really want to go see it again, hopefully it is still running next week when I should have some free time again. The shoes scene was something I didn't expect at all, but when thinking back you can kind of understand and see it. Stephen Merchant's part wasn't as big as I thought it would be, but also made a lot of sense afterwards, and it was really good. I was really surprised by how good Alfie was as Jojo, really impressive acting from him. And I loved Taika Waititi's acting too. Don't think I've ever seen him as an "real" actor in a movie before. The part with Sam Rockwell in the end was really good too
 
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Had to see it again to see if I'd missed anything the first time round. Think the serious parts hit harder as the subtle hints were more obvious as you knew what the characters were going to do and their opinions on certain matters. Beautiful film and great acting.
 
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I thought this was fantastic too. I must confess about midway through it was starting to lose me but the second half is excellent and builds really well on the first. I agree with Variety’s assessment that it’s Life Is Beautiful for the 21st century.
 

v0n

v0n

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Well acted weird and bizarre on every level parallel universe pastiche. Nothing in it makes much sense, from the non-germanic names of characters (Jojo with american "j"?), through "the sister", acts of the mother, rainbow Wehrmacht, cardboard Hitler Jugend uniforms, the whole lot - the set up, the premise and the punchline. I don't get the love for this movie. It's not "Life Is Beautiful" for 21st century. It's "Freddie Got Fingered" type of comedic masturbation all over really serious, really heavy, deserving utmost respect background. Just because Tarantino can pull off "alternate universe" slavery/Nazi/Hollywood murder lols tastefully it doesn't mean that nazism, WWII resistance, Anne Frank scenarios are now a fair game to every Kiwi stoner under the sun. I don't understand why this idea is applauded. This is an equivalent of Ricky Gervaise doing comedic feature production on English colonisation of Maori people? Fair game?
 

Sui

Sui

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Went to see this last night, I'm not sure what I expected but for me it's the best film I've seen in an awfully long time.

Smashed it.

Considering it's only been out since the start of the year there aren't many screenings left of it!
 
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I just got back from seeing this with the misses and we both absolutely loved it. Funny, sad, endearing. It points out the ridiculousness of people without making fun of them - something that's rarely done well. Fantastic movie from start to finish!
 
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Well acted weird and bizarre on every level parallel universe pastiche. Nothing in it makes much sense, from the non-germanic names of characters (Jojo with american "j"?), through "the sister", acts of the mother, rainbow Wehrmacht, cardboard Hitler Jugend uniforms, the whole lot - the set up, the premise and the punchline. I don't get the love for this movie. It's not "Life Is Beautiful" for 21st century. It's "Freddie Got Fingered" type of comedic masturbation all over really serious, really heavy, deserving utmost respect background. Just because Tarantino can pull off "alternate universe" slavery/Nazi/Hollywood murder lols tastefully it doesn't mean that nazism, WWII resistance, Anne Frank scenarios are now a fair game to every Kiwi stoner under the sun. I don't understand why this idea is applauded. This is an equivalent of Ricky Gervaise doing comedic feature production on English colonisation of Maori people? Fair game?

Your post kind of ignores the long tradition of directors of multiple different backgrounds using absurdity to make light of Nazism (and that the director is Jewish, but I don’t think that influenced his decision to make this film). It doesn’t make light of the original events but by putting the ridiculous alongside the real, it shows that the real was ridiculous on many levels. It is very difficult to counter argue against poisonous ideology in any other way.

Such comedy is possible because the “good guys” won, so lampooning the other side is OK. Your Gervais example would be punching down in its purest form (although that’s a Gervais speciality so maybe that’s not far fetched).
 

v0n

v0n

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Your post kind of ignores the long tradition of directors of multiple different backgrounds using absurdity to make light of Nazism (and that the director is Jewish, but I don’t think that influenced his decision to make this film). It doesn’t make light of the original events but by putting the ridiculous alongside the real, it shows that the real was ridiculous on many levels. It is very difficult to counter argue against poisonous ideology in any other way.

But that's the point - it doesn't "show that the real was ridiculous". It's not lapooning bad guys Vs good guys. It isn't even lampooning everything and everyone like Alo, alo used to.
Mr Waititi (who, to correct your apologism, is about as Jewish as Boris Johnson is native viking, or about 1/6th blood related to someone who was direct descendant from a Jewish mother) instead elects to invent a bizarro parallel universe where Germans and some nazis in this conflict are the good guys. For "lolz". It's a world where a jewish girl (played for comedic effect by blue eyed celtic New Zealander) is for five years saved and sheltered by a German mother (played for comedic effect by an ashkenazi jewess) of a funny and friendly Volkssturm Waffen-SS Hitlerjugend kid with a Yankee nick name. And when things get serious both get rescued (from gestspo and freeing Russian forces respectively) by a good Nazi Wehrmacht Hauptmann.
It is one weird story painting one bizarre picture for the next generations but as long as it's funny, right?
 
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But that's the point - it doesn't "show that the real was ridiculous". It's not lapooning bad guys Vs good guys. It isn't even lampooning everything and everyone like Alo, alo used to.
Mr Waititi (who, to correct your apologism, is about as Jewish as Boris Johnson is native viking, or about 1/6th blood related to someone who was direct descendant from a Jewish mother) instead elects to invent a bizarro parallel universe where Germans and some nazis in this conflict are the good guys. For "lolz". It's a world where a jewish girl (played for comedic effect by blue eyed celtic New Zealander) is for five years saved and sheltered by a German mother (played for comedic effect by an ashkenazi jewess) of a funny and friendly Volkssturm Waffen-SS Hitlerjugend kid with a Yankee nick name. And when things get serious both get rescued (from gestspo and freeing Russian forces respectively) by a good Nazi Wehrmacht Hauptmann.
It is one weird story painting one bizarre picture for the next generations but as long as it's funny, right?

So do you have to be Jewish or not to play Jewish characters in your world? I’m confused because you seem to argue both. I don’t think it matters, FWIW, nor do I think there is anything here requiring apologism. Clearly you disagree.

Ignoring that, it’s hardly beyond the realm of possibility that there were Nazi soldiers who tried to undermine and subvert the cause to assuage their own guilty conscience. I think the film tries to show everyone is human but that the pull of ideology is incredibly strong, even in the face of overwhelming evidence which contradicts that ideology.

I am not surprised at all this has divided critics and audiences.
 
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Just got back from seeing it. 50 seat cinema screen... 8 of us in it. None under 30. Utter silence throughout, no talking, no glare from phones, no noisy food... YES! :D

Absolutely loved it. Possibly the best film I've seen in the cinema since Blade Runner 2049. For me, it was absolutely pitch perfect. Genuinely can't think of anything I didn't like about it.
 
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