*Premise spoilers.*
As my excitement for season 2 of Our Flag Means Death reaches “seeing Tony Leung Chiu-wai on the big screen in a Marvel movie!!!” levels of anticipation, I’ve found that I need to give it a stronger outlet than just geeking out online, rewatching the trailers (plural!), and looking at the promotional stills. So I’m rewatching season 1, of course, and supplementing that with other Taika Waititi- and/or Rhys Darby-related stuff. This was the last feature film Waititi wrote and directed in New Zealand before Thor: Ragnarok, a delightfully acerbic little gem of a movie.
Ricky Baker has gotten another new foster placement, and it’s been made clear to him that this is his last chance at finding a home. The sometime-stoic, sometimes-sweet 13-year-old is warmly welcomed by his new “auntie” Bella, while her husband Hec wants nothing to do with him. But after an unexpected turn of events, Ricky and Hec wind up disappearing into the New Zealand bush together, kicking off an enormous manhunt.
This is just the sort of work I’ve come to expect from Waititi, by turns ridiculous, irreverent, heartfelt, and sad. We get larger-than-life moments during Ricky and Hec’s adventures and fabulous banter that keeps me laughing, paired with intense moments of desperation and scenes of quiet connection. Through it all is threaded a gentle message about society’s “rescue dogs”—cast-off people like foster kid Ricky—and the importance of finding a place to belong, building your own home if you can’t get one anywhere else, and fighting for the people who’ll stand with you.
The interplay between Ricky and Hec starts off brusque and combative, but as they slowly start to understand each other a little better, it grows from a fragile truce to a delightful comradeship (even if they never fully stop getting on each other’s nerves.) It’s wild to think about where they are at the start of the film compared to where they end up, but the story makes you believe it.
I like how intentional the stylistic choices are here. The music, the camera work, and the “chapter title” headings add so much. And I love how Waititi can convey important story points without a word: in this film, there’s a lot of significance to a hot water bottle in the bed of Ricky’s foster home, and there’s one scene in particular where the water bottle speaks every bit as loudly as a scene of dialogue would. Love it!
Ricky is played beautifully by Julian Dennison, leading the mostly Maori cast with endearing humor and heart (side note: I’d previously seen Dennison in Deadpool 2, which he made not long after this film.) He capably navigates Ricky’s shifts from wary to affectionate to being a little shit, and he brings a lot of talent to both the silly scenes and the vulnerable ones. He proves a skillful screen partner for Sam O’Neill as Hec, who does a fine job teasing out the cantankerous grump’s humanity. The two play so well off each other, and you really buy their relationship through all its evolution over the course of the film. Rachel House is great as a stone-faced child welfare worker, and I love Rima Te Wiata’s nonchalant warmth as Bella. We’re also treated to a goofy appearance from Rhys Darby as a survivalist Hec and Ricky encounter on their travels, and Waititi makes a brief cameo.
Warnings
Violence (including violence against animals and allusions to pedophilia,) language, and thematic elements.
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