In ‘Jojo Rabbit,’ Waititi attempts his boldest balancing act

It’s just a few hours before “Jojo Rabbit” will make its world premiere and writer-director Taika Waititi is still figuring out how to talk about it.“I still don’t even really kw how to describe it without making people shift uncomfortably,” says Waititi with a shrug.

“Jojo Rabbit” is as singular as its director, idiosyncratic New Zealand filmmaker of off-kilter buddy comedy “ Hunt for Wilderpeople” and vampire mockumentary “What We Do in Shows.” new film, which Fox Searchlight will release Friday, is a comic coming-of- story about a 10-year-old boy named Jojo (Roman Griffin Davis) who lives with his mom (Scarlett Johansson) and has a buffoonish imaginary friend he talks to for company and guidance. Oh, and also “Jojo Rabbit” is set in Nazi Germany and imaginary friend is olf Hitler. But that summary doesn’t really do job, eir. Hitler, as played with bug-eyed flair by Waititi, is really young boy’s confused, half-formed idea of Hitler, man he’s been indoctrinated to idolize. movie starts off a mcap comedy and grually morphs into something sweetly sentimental, as Jojo begins questioning what he’s been told about Jews after discovering one (Thomasin McKenzie) living in his attic. “Jojo Rabbit” is about growing up in a world where received wisdom is ridiculous. To say least, it’s t sort of thing most directors coming off a smash-hit Marvel movie would make. Waititi’s “Thor: Ragnarok” me $848 million worldwide, and he’s set to direct its 2021 sequel. But in between, Waititi used his newfound industry capital to get “Jojo Rabbit” — a film he started writing in 2011 — greenlit. Pitching a movie that combines quirkiness with Holocaust was easier than talking to journalists about it.

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Jojo Rabit wins audience award

“You don’t walk into a studio and say: ‘Nazi comedy!’” Waititi jokes. 44-year-old filmmaker was meeting at Toronto International Film Festival where Waititi, jetlagged from travel, asked if he might put on sunglasses “so long as you don’t construe that as me being arrogant or trying to be a musician.” In Toronto, “Jojo Rabbit” went on to win festival’s audience award, a prize that for last dece has corresponded with a best-picture mination at Acemy Awards.

“Jojo” was a hit with Toronto audiences, who celebrated Waititi’s seemingly impossible balancing act. But critical reception has been mixed. easiest comparison has been Wes Anderson’s “Rushmore” meets Roberto Benigni’s “Life Is Beautiful,” and some view such an unlikely tonal combination as trivializing a historical trauma. Even those who have cheered “Jojo Rabbit” quickly grant it’s a movie that, on paper, shouldn’t work. But Waititi, who’s Jewish and Maori, from Te Whanau-a-Apanui tribe, has long delighted in melding light and dark, playful and serious. “I don’t like something where I feel like I kw what’s going to happen next,” he says. “I like going from a fun moment to something tragic or shocking.”

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Want to make this movie that body would make: Rockwell

son of a painter and a schoolteacher, Waititi came up in Wellington, New Zealand, doing experimental st shows and comedy acts (he and Jemaine Clement were a touring comedy duo dubbed Humourbeasts). His first short film, 2002′s “John and Pogo,” was about a policeman and a dog, only dog was played by a man. His 2005 short “Two Cars, One Night,” like “Jojo Rabbit,” is about how children perceive world. In it, two Maori kids waiting for ir parents outside a pub go from hurling insults at each or to a sincere friendship in 10 minutes. It was minated for an Oscar. During brocast, Waititi feigned sleeping while category’s minees were re.

“Jojo” producer Carw Neal, who with Waititi set up collective Piki Films ( name means to climb or ascend in Maori), says Waititi’s career path should surprise one.

“This was a project he h wanted to do for quite a long time. re will be more time for big movies and y’re in works, as well,” says Neal. “But he’s been an artist, he’s been a painter, he’s been a performing artist in ater and w a director. It’s sort of all in mix for him. I don’t think re’s one direct line he’s aiming to get at.”Sam Rockwell, who plays Hitler Youth camp leer Captain Klenzendorf, considers Waititi a visionary. “He was smart. He h a little clout from ‘Thor’ and he was like, ‘w I want to make this movie that body would make,’” says Rockwell.

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