Eagle vs. Shark - review

I loved this film. It's a quirky romantic comedy about misfits that neatly avoids getting sappy. It actually is a great character study. One thing that stands out about the film is it's honesty and childlike innocence, I think. The characters, while sometimes pretty weird, feel very real to life. Even the supporting characters are pretty strong and quirky. It's a film where what ever comes next is always unexpected.

I had a chance to attend a Q&A with the New Zealand writer-director Taika Cohen (Taika Waititi) and star Loren Horsley. They met, along with the other lead actor, Jemaine Clement, at a college and became flatmates and good friends, going on to collaborate on numerous projects including a short film, Two Cars, One Night (2003) , which was nominated for an Oscar. In that same year their script for Eagle vs. Shark was chosen for the Sundance Director's and Screenwriter's Labs, and production started soon after.

Loren Horsley and Jemaine Clement were really quite good. They played their roles very honestly with deep characterizations. Taika is obviously a very good writer as well as director.