Eagle vs. Shark — Taika Waititi’s First Step Towards Better Things…
“I guess I’ve gotta keep creating, or I’ll just die” — Taika Waititi’s necessary step towards better things.
Taika Waititi has established himself as one New Zealand’s most extraordinary exports, the kind of visionary talent Hollywood wishes they’d churned out themselves. While his films still feel surprisingly independent (save for the Thor franchise he’s found himself straddling), Waititi’s future adventures into the weird-and-wonderful outback of cinema will undoubtedly grow in scale to become more ambitious, untameable beasts. But looking now at his latest release, 2019’s Jojo Rabbit, a heartwarming if not harrowing tale of a wannabe Hitler Youth tryout who finds his mind being changed when he discovers his mother is secretly housing a Jewish refugee, in comparison to his first deviation into film, 2007’s Eagle Vs. Shark, the difference in quality is astounding — but the trail Waititi walked to get from one to the other is clear, and it’s a well-trodden path.
Eagle vs. Shark tells the tale of a loose romance between Lily and Jarrod (Loren Horsley and Jemain Clement, respectively), two bizarre characters who barely match on paper, let alone in any kind of discernable reality — but it doesn’t feel as though it really matters, and that’s what makes Eagle vs. Shark a charming watch, it’s characters are so blissfully unaware that they’re unsuited that they become a beautiful duo to watch on screen, with Lily desperately trying to understand Jarrod’s eccentricities, while Jarrod buries the trauma over his brother’s sudden death under these idiosyncrasies. Against the odds, they balance each other out extraordinarily, each adding pinches of surrealism or sensibility into each other’s personalities throughout the film’s runtime.
For all its charm, however, Eagle vs. Shark falls down heavily on actual story; it’s far too easy to zone out amongst Jarrod’s childlike antics and to become numbed to Lily’s pushover mindset, and once you see past the quirky, near-alternate reality that Waititi has created for the purposes of Eagle vs. Shark, there isn’t much meaning to grab ahold of. It’s a film that, thankfully, can stand on its own thanks to off-the-wall quotes and unconventional characters — a formula that fans of Flight of the Conchords will be familiar with. However, when boiled down to its bare bones, Eagle vs. Shark stumbles through its own story, and leaves only scraps of trippy psychedelia and absurdity for us to dig our teeth into.
Eagle vs. Shark is a portrait of Waititi’s psyche unchained and unbound. It’s unapologetic in its personality, but like all erratic children, they’re not for everybody — they can grate on you, and tire you out quickly, but they can also charm you and make you feel like the world still has some good left to offer. Eagle vs. Shark is a delightfully frustrating watch that, without argument, has flaws, but it’s a brave first step for a director who will go onto far more ambitious projects that are still packed with the vivid personality and oddities that Eagle vs. Shark wears proudly on its sleeve, but without the weighty burden of forcing quirkiness down his audience’s throat. Jarrod at one point utters “I guess I’ve gotta keep creating, or I’ll just die.” It’s a sentiment that perfectly sums up Waititi’s cinematic journey; he could have drowned in absurdity. But it’s nice to see that Taika Waititi’s feel-good intention was always there, and it’s equally nice to see that in his later films — the far superior Hunt for the Wilderpeople and the incomparable Jojo Rabbit — that he also learned the meaning of restraint.
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Words by Connor Cudmore
Graphics and design by Betty Woodhouse
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