Boy

This unpretentious comic tale of a youngster?s growing relationship with a long-absent father has a surprising rhythmic genius: joy juxtaposed with humiliation, silliness with sadness, fantasy with reality, and none of it formulaic.
-David Dewitt, The New York Times

Synopsis

It's 1984, and Michael Jackson is king-even in Waihau Bay, New Zealand. Here we meet Boy, an 11-year-old who lives on a farm with his gran, a goat, and his younger brother, Rocky (who thinks he has magic powers). Shortly after Gran leaves for a week, Boy's father, Alamein, appears out of the blue. Having imagined a heroic version of his father during his absence, Boy comes face to face with the real version-an incompetent hoodlum who has returned to find a bag of money he buried years before. This is where the goat enters. Inspired by his Oscar-nominated short, Two Cars, One Night, Taika Waititi offers a charming. funny, and earnest coming-of-age story where everybody has some coming of age to do-particularly Alamein (affably played by Waititi himself). Never short on humor, Waititi's story is ultimately about three boys (one grown) reconciling fantasy with reality.

Theatrical Release Date

Friday, March 09, 2012
Original Languages: English
Genre: Comedy, Drama
Running Time: 87 min.
Year: 2010

CREDITS

CAST
Taika Waititi
James Rolleston
Te Aho Aho Eketone-Whitu
DIRECTED BY
Taika Waititi

TRAILER


PHOTOS

Director Taika Waititi. Photos Matt Grace and Darryl Ward.
Photos Matt Grace and Darryl Ward.
Left to Right: Rocky (Te Aho Aho Eketone-Whitu), Boy (James Rolleston) and Alamein (Taika Waititi). Photos Matt Grace and Darryl Ward.
Rocky (Te Aho Eketone-Whitu). Photos Matt Grace and Darryl Ward.
Boy (James Rolleston). Photos Matt Grace and Darryl Ward.
Photos Matt Grace and Darryl Ward.
Boy (James Rolleston). Photos Matt Grace and Darryl Ward.
Left to Right: Rocky (Te Aho Eketone-Whitu) and Boy (James Rolleston). Photos Matt Grace and Darryl Ward.
Boy (James Rolleston). Photos Matt Grace and Darryl Ward.
Photos Matt Grace and Darryl Ward.
Alamein (Taika Waititi). Photos Matt Grace and Darryl Ward.