Starring Sam Neill, Julian Dennison and Rhys Darby
Written and directed by Taika Waititi
New Zealand 2016
107 mins
The Acton Film Club is 10 years old this year - to mark that we have been showing a film that may have passed you by from every year since we started in 2009. This time the movie is from 2016 and is the first picture from New Zealand that we have ever screened.
The director of 'Hunt For The Wilderpeople' is Taika Waititi - a comedian, writer and actor whose work includes episodes of the cult TV show 'Flight Of The Conchords' and the brilliant mocumentary 'What We Do In The Shadows' which followed the lives of four vampires sharing a flat in a Wellington suburb. Waititi's hilarious, offbeat humour was also a major feature of 'Thor Ragnarok' - one of the best of the sprawling Marvel superhero franchise.
'Hunt For The Wilderpeople' is a much smaller, more intimate drama and tells the tale of Ricky, a juvenile delinquent from the city who, after his mother abandons him, is placed with his sympathetic aunt and curmudgeonly uncle in the remote countryside. When tragedy strikes Ricky runs away - only to be pursued by his uncle into the bush. The two strike up an unlikely friendship and are forced to evade the authorities who are by now looking for them...
The miraculous onscreen chemistry between this odd couple is at the heart of one of quirkiest and most beautifully played comedies you will see in a long time.
This is our final film at The Rocket until September but don't miss our annual outdoor screening on Friday July 26th - Billy Wilder's masterpiece 'The Apartment' - the very first film the Acton Film Club showed in August 2009.
