This Eagle vs Shark movie review was written after catching a screening at The Duke of Yorks cinema in Brighton, England. The film is from New Zealand, stars Jermain Clement of new BBC4 comedy Flight of the Conchords and newcomer Loren Horsley. Its directed by Taika Waititi who was nominated for an academy award for his short film Two Cars, One Night. Taika also plays a character in the film.

Eagle vs Shark is a quirky romantic comedy which brings to mind a number of other indie films but manages to combine elements of various films to produce a piece of essential viewing. The film relishes awkward family scenes and delivers some hilarious moments of weirdness as well some truly poignant observations of family life in much the same vein as Little Miss Sunshine. The perfect placing of great music with great moments, along with the female lead brought to mind the outstanding film Me You and Everyone we Know.

The character of Jermaine has been often compared to Napoleon Dynamite, the similarities are there of course, but he feels much more 3 dimensional and on the surface a lot less pleasant. He is not simply a funny geek but a complex individual who forces confidence where really there is very little, the reasons for this become apparent as the film develops. Napoleon Dynamite in comparison is a cartoon character, a funny joke, but not a real person. Where that film came across as Hollywood trying to do Indie (lets not forget it was financed by MTV), this is a genuinely touching piece of film making, the real deal if you will. Far from the Napoleon Dynamite imitation some people claim its Napoleon Dynamite with life breathed into it.

The soundtrack is outstanding, and although many sounded familiar I was surprised to note the majority were from little known Kiwi bands. Crowded House aside, I know very little about the New Zealand music scene, but this film has made me want to explore it a bit more. A couple of tracks from The Stone Roses and the outstanding M Ward also figure. The music is placed with the scenes to superb effect, providing some real spine tingling moments amongst the humour.

The film is shot beautifully, vibrant colours feature in every scene, the small town backward area of New Zealand in which the film is shot is captured wonderfully. In the style of The Science of Sleep the film is also shot with animations spliced throughout, these provide a visual break from the normal scenes and are shot so that at first you can hardly tell whether or not what you are seeing is real or animation. In another clever piece of camera work the lead female Lilly is seemingly walking under the water, with drawings of fish all around her, as the camera pans out we see she is actually waiting outside a well graffitied toilet.

I can strongly recommend this film to any fans of the aforementioned films, and to anyone who enjoys funny slightly offbeat films.

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