Hunt for the Wilderpeople- A Heartfelt and Whimsical Exploration of Loneliness









I simply adore Taika Waititi as a filmmaker, I think his short series of projects prove that he has this fascinating ability to create a certain brand of comedy that is full of character and humanity, which is nothing short of refreshing in a genre that has been diluted by an Adam Sandler flick every year. His ‘big break’ of sorts before he was scooped up by Marvel was the fantastic ‘Hunt for the Wilderpeople’ starring Sam Neill and Julian Dennison. In many ways, this is a spiritual sequel to ‘Boy’ exploring an element of growing up through the vice of New Zealand culture in all its spectacular beauty, Waititi creates a melancholic romp, full of contradictory ideas and scenes that shouldn’t work but they leave an incredible impact on the audience.





‘Hunt for the Wilderpeople’ follows the life of a foster child Ricky Baker (Julian Dennison) and his introduction to his new family who live in a rural cottage on the outsides of the bush, his adopted parents which he calls Auntie Bella (Rima Te Wiata) and Uncle Hec (Sam Neill) introduce him to life in the bush. I can’t say anymore for spoiler reasons, the plot moves along at this pace where you aren’t sure what the concept quite is, what Wilderpeople wants to spend its time with is what it spends its time with, and I think that’s why it really hits in its ending. Waititi creates patterns in characters and situations, understanding the pacing of equilibrium and subverting the equilibrium for emotional or comedic effect, this never gets tedious or repetitive because of the scope of the thematic ideas he puts in the film. He structures jokes in the same way he structures characters, with set up and pay off but utilising character traits for emotional significance or comedic significance. Every plot beat could turn into a punchline or a punch to the gut and that is just outstanding writing. Really it is a film about Hec and Ricky’s relationship and the unconventionality of their partnership but exploring the bond of feeling alienated in a society and not knowing your place.





cter of Hec is a sympathetic and sheltered person, Waititi never lets on to the feelings of this character through the words he says, instead it is the nuances in Neil’s performance that land the emotional weight as the gruff exterior is established so well that Neill can really show the cracks when Hec is cracking. I can’t stress this enough but there are several moments where Neill will blow anyone away but also several moments where he will make you cry with laughter, mostly due to the chemistry he has with Dennison’s Ricky Baker. Ricky Baker is a trouble-making teenager, the perfect yet sad depiction of a child upholding a societal perception of himself. The way these two clash is fantastic, a classic writing technique to create archetypal opposites in order to hold a mirror to each character and let their arc meet somewhere in the middle of their archetypes. However, Waititi shows that it isn’t that simple, a lot of the plot beats subvert our expectation of their arcs because people aren’t that simple and especially in the third act it leaves a more impactful resolution to the character’s development. Ricky Baker is a trouble-making teenager, the perfect yet sad depiction of a child upholding a societal perception of himself. The way these two clash is fantastic, a classic writing technique to create archetypal opposites in order to hold a mirror to each character and let their arc meet somewhere in the middle of their archetypes. However, Waititi shows that it isn’t that simple, a lot of the plot beats subvert our expectation of their arcs because people aren’t that simple and especially in the third act it leaves a more impactful resolution to the character’s development. I said in my ‘Boy’ review that Waititi is a writer that understands the complexity of human beings, and I think this is the height of his ability to pin that down, with his stellar writing of the two titular characters being complex and realised. Sam Neill pulls out the performance of his career, without a doubt, the chara





The supporting cast in ‘Hunt for the Wilderpeople’ might be my favourite collection of side characters in a film ever. Rima Te Wiata as Auntie Bella is endearing and hilariously obtuse, her care and love are infectious, and she really sells the honesty in her character. Rachel House returns and once again proves why she is such an incredible overlooked comedic actress, her performance as Paula is hilariously over the top and her physical comedy is outstanding. There are small cameos from Waititi’s previous collaborators such as Cohen Holloway and Rhys Darby which are hilarious highlights of the film, as well as Waititi himself in a tiny cameo which is by far the funniest scene in the film. The film also boasts an amazing soundtrack by Moniker, combining traditional New Zealand melodies with modern musical ideas creates an outstanding atmosphere that resonates with every scene and idea.





When you have a setting like the New Zealand countryside there is absolutely no doubt that you have to make the most of the beauty and scope of it and Wilderpeople is just downright beautiful with its landscape. Through several sweeping drone shots or panoramic wide shots, we experience every part of Ricky Baker’s amazement, there is a specific moment revolving around a stream that has this unique and special feeling through a combination of the shot composition and score that Waititi needs very little dialogue to create an emotionally beautiful moment and one of those special scenes that stay with the viewer. He does this a lot, creating moments that have such specific feelings to them, it could be an extravagant action scene or just a conversation, but you can tell Waititi knew what he wanted to evoke with this moment. This has a lot to do with an amount of care and specificity in the writing, the way it is paced is gloriously clever, a three-act structure with an adventure of a second act and a subtler more emotional focus for the other two.





I simply can’t fault ‘Hunt for the Wilderpeople’ there are very minor editing decisions that I could think of an alternative to I’m not as talented as Waititi and I honestly don’t think any part of this film was committed without every ounce of his creative authenticity put into it. It’s been a pleasure watching Taika reach the heights of his career and I am more than excited to see what he has in store in the future.