Eagle vs Shark (2007) - Waititi's witty if flawed debut

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A sort of confusing (who are the people superimposed onto the sky?) but also fresh and curiosity-sparking poster for Taika Waititi's Eagle vs Shark

A fast food worker, who is in love with an electronics salesman, impresses him with her skills in a video game, and soon thereafter love is in the air between the two.

Eagle vs Shark, written by co-writer-lead actress Loren Taylor (The Strip (2002-03)) and feature-debuting co-writer-director Taika Waititi (Boy (2010)), is a witty indie movie. It relishes and cultivates the quirks of its strange protagonists (and several side characters.) The quirky weirdness seems a bit studied, and the film lacks a straightforwardness that makes its dramatic side seem stuck in a strange unreality.
There is still enough to laugh over, or to simply find amusing, in Eagle vs Shark, so that this visit to a very awkward version of New Zealand is still worth taking.

Watch the opening scene of the film here

Cost: 1.35 mil. $
Box office: In excess of 1.2 mil. $
= Some uncertainty (but looks like a huge flop)
[Eagle vs Shark premiered in January (Sundance) and runs 88 minutes. The script was workshopped at the Sundance writers' and directors' labs in June 2005. Shooting took place in New Zealand, including in Wellington, in 25 days from October - November 2005. The film opened #53 to a 20k $ first weekend in 3 theaters in North America, where it peaked at #46 and in 20 theaters (different weeks) and grossed 221k $ (18.4 % of the total gross). This was the film's 3rd biggest market. The 2 biggest were its native New Zealand with 733k $ (61 %) and the UK with 299k $ (24.9 %). It was shown at festivals in more countries than are accounted for on Box Office Mojo, but doesn't seem to have made any money on this. The film was screened and nominated for the main prize in Sundance and won one out of 3 nominations at the New Zealand Film and TV Awards. Waititi has continued to grow as a filmmaker, but is now heading Thor: Ragnarok (2017), changing pace to the mega-budgeted tentpole movie business. Eagle vs Shark is rotten at 54 % with a 5.6 critical average at Rotten Tomatoes.]

What do you think of Eagle vs Shark?