Film Excess - Free Ukraine - Stop Putin - End the war NOW!!: Hunt for the Wilderpeople (2016) - Dynamite duo lead Waititi's break-out crowd-pleaser

3/14/2023

Hunt for the Wilderpeople (2016) - Dynamite duo lead Waititi's break-out crowd-pleaser

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A wide variety of elements are placed in and around a big bush that the two leads stand in front of on this infectious poster for Taika Waititi's Hunt for the Wilderpeople

Ricky Baker is an orphan and a rebel boy, who is placed with a married couple in New Zealand's bush land, but when their situation there alters, the authorities want to move the boy again ...

Hunt for the Wilderpeople is written, co-produced and directed by great New Zealander filmmaker Taika Waititi (Eagle vs Shark (2007)), who also has a part in the film, with Tearepa Kahi (Taua (2007, short)). It is an adaptation of Barry Crump's (Song of a Drifter (1996)) novel Wild Pork and Watercress (1986).

Waititi has created a true favorite and winner here, a heart-warming, very vivid and uplifting film with a light approach to life. The charismatic firecracker Julian Dennison (Deadpool 2 (2018)) as Ricky Baker exceeds all expectations. Sam Neill (The Piano (1993)) is splendid as uncle Herc, and several of the scenes that the two share are pure gold. In smaller roles Rhys Darby (Wild Life (2020, TV-series)) shines as Psycho Sam, and Rachel House (Millie Lies Low (2021)) as the child welfare worker and Oscar Kightley (Moana (2016)) as her sidekick Andy the police officer, - as well as Waititi himself in the part as the minister, - are hilarious, the latter in the film's funeral scene.

Hunt for the Wilderpeople has an inspired score (by Lukasz Pawel Buda, Samuel Scott and Conrad Wedde (Boy (2010), all)) and musical choices, a wild boar attack with impressively good-looking effects, and lots of breathtaking wild nature and photography (by Lachlan Milne (Minari (2020))), which also makes the film a great nature-lover's pleasure. This is a must-see.

Related posts:

Taika Waititi: The day after ... the 2020 Oscars

2017 in films - according to Film Excess [UPDATED I]
2017 in films - according to Film Excess

Thor: Ragnarok (2017) - Waititi injects franchise with a colorful, 1980s-infatuated, fun-filled blast
Eagle vs Shark (2007) - Waititi's witty if flawed debut

Flight of the Conchords - season 1 (2007) - Oddball musical comedy with NZ favorites a hit

Watch a trailer for the film here

Cost: 4.5 mil. NZ$, approximately 2.8 mil. $

Box office: 23.9 mil. $

= Mega-hit (returned 8.53 times the cost)

[Hunt for the Wilderpeople was released 22 January (Brazil + Sundance Film Festival) and runs 101 minutes. Waititi began working on his adaptation in 2005. 2 mil. NZ$ of the film's budget was from the New Zealand Film Commission. Shooting took place around June 2015 in New Zealand. The film opened #33 to a 78k $ first weekend in 5 theaters in North America, where it peaked at #15 and in 200 theaters (different weeks), grossing 5.2 mil. $ (21.8 % of the total gross). North America was the film's 3rd biggest market. Its two biggest were Australia with 8.3 mil. $ (34.7 %) and New Zealand with 8.1 mil. $ (33.9 %). The film was the first local film to gross more than 1 mil. NZ$ in its opening film and is the highest-grossing New Zealand film to date. Waititi returned with Team Thor (2016, video), Team Thor: Part 2 (2017, video) and theatrically with Thor: Ragnarok (2017). Neill returned in Tommy's Honour (2016); Dennison in Love and Time Travel (2016). Hunt for the Wilderpeople is certified fresh at 97 % with a 7.90/10 critical average at Rotten Tomatoes.]

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Donald Sutherland has passed away

Born in Canada, Sutherland battled polio as a child. His first credit was in Suspense (1963, TV-series) and his first film was The Castle of the Living Dead (1964). Later credits in his remarkable career include The Saint (1965-66), The Dirty Dozen (1967), M*A*S*H (1970), Kelly's Heroes (1970), Klute (1971), Don't Look Now (1973), 1900 (1976), Casanova (1976), The Eagle Has Landed (1976), Ordinary People (1980), A Dry White Season (1989), JFK (1991), Outbreak (1995), Fallen (1998), Virus (1999), Fierce People (2005), Pride & Prejudice (2005), Lord of War (2005), The Hunger Games (2012), The Undoing (2020, miniseries) and many more. He passed away at age 88. R.I.P.

Roger Corman has passed away

Born in Detroit, Michigan, Corman had a sprawling, intellectually hungry life as a youth and young man before arriving with his first film in 1955, Five Guns West. He would follow that with titles such as Apache Woman, It Conquered the World, Attack of the Crab Monsters, Teenage Cave Man, A Bucket of Blood, House of Usher, The Little Shop of Horrors, The Pit and the Pendulum, The Intruder, The Raven, The Terror, The Masque of Red Death, The Tomb of Ligeia, The Wild Angels, The Trip, Bloody Mama and many more. As a producer he was behind almost 500 films. Arguably among the most important filmmakers of the 20th century, Corman passed away at age 98. R.I.P.

William Friedkin has died

Born in Chicago, Friedkin accrued TV credits prior to his advance to the big screen as the director of Good TImes (1967), The Birthday Party (1968), The Night They Raided Minsky's (1968) and The Boys in the Band (1970) before his major breakthrough, The French Connection (1971), for which he won his only Oscar. He followed it up with the even bigger smash, The Exorcist (1973), arguably the best horror film of all time, for which he was Oscar-nominated. Later credits include Sorcerer (1977), Cruising (1980), To Live and Die in L.A. (1985), Rampage (1987), Rules of Engagement (2000), Killer Joe (2011) and The Devil and Father Amorth (2017, documentary). Friedkin passed away at age 87. R.I.P.

Louise Fletcher has passed away

Born in Alabama to deaf parents, Fletcher got her first credits in late-1950s TV-series.She took a 10 year-long sabbatical to devote her time to motherhood after the release of A Gathering of Eagles, but then came back and soon saw her career's most important part, as Nurse Ratched in One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest (1975), for which she won her sole Oscar. Later credits include Exorcist II: The Heretic (1977), The Lucky Star (1980), Brainstorm (1983), Two Moon Junction (1988), Cruel Intentions (1999), A Perfect Man (2013) and many more. Fletcher passed away at age 88. R.I.P.

Jean-Luc Godard has passed away

Born in Paris, France, Godard lived much of his life in Switzerland. He wrote for French film criticism magazine Cahiers du Cinema and became foundational for the New French Wave that inspired new waves in scores of other countries across the world with his Breathless (1960). Later credits include A Woman Is A Woman (1961), Vivre Sa Vie (1962), Le Petit Soldat (1962), Contempt (1963), Alphaville (1965), Pierrot le Fou (1965), 2 or 3 Things I Know About Her (1967), Weekend (1967), Every Man for Himself (1980), King Lear (1987), Century of Cinema (1995, documentary), Goodbye to Language (2014) and many more. Godard died of assisted suicide at age 91. R.I.P.

Wolfgang Petersen has died

James Caan has died

Caan was born the son of Jewish immigrants from Germany in New York. He got his start on TV in the early 1960s. His credits include El Dorado (1966), The Rain People (1969), Brian's Song (1971, TV movie), The Godfather (1972), - for which he earned his only Oscar nomination, - Slither (1973), The Gambler (1974), Funny Lady (1975), Rollerball (1975), Silent Movie (1976), Hide in Plain Sight (1980), - the only film he also directed, - Thief (1981), Misery (1990), Honeymoon in Vegas (1992), Bottle Rocket (1996), Eraser (1996), Dogville (2003), Elf (2003), Las Vegas (2003-07), Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs (2009) and many more. Caan passed away at age 82. R.I.P.

Jean-Louis Trintignant has died

Born in Vaucluse, France, Trintignant's theatrical debut as an actor was in If All the Guys in the World... (1955). Later credits include ...And God Created Woman (1956), The Seven Deadly Sins (1961), Inferno (1964), A Man and A Woman (1966), My Love, My Love (1967), A Man to Kill (1967), The Great Silence (1968), Z (1969), The Assassination (1972), Three Colors: Red (1994), Amour (2012), Happy End (2017) and many more. He also wrote and directed two films in the 1970s. Trintignant passed away at age 91. R.I.P.

Ray Liotta has died

Adopted from an orphenage at a young age, Liotta got hooked on acting in high school. He had various TV credits in the late 1970s and early 80s, with his film debut in The Lonely Lady (1983). Later credits include Something Wild (1986), Field of Dreams (1989), Goodfellas (1990), Cop Land (1997), Hannibal (2001), Blow (2001), Narc (2002), John Q (2002), Identity (2003), Observe and Report (2009), Youth in Revolt (2009), The Details (2011), Killing THem Softly (2012), The Place Beyond the Pines (2012), Shades of Blue (2016-18), The Simpsons (2018, TV-series), Marriage Story (2019), The Many Saints of Newark (2021), Black Bird (2022, TV-series) and many more. Liotta passed away at age 67 in his sleep while on production in the Dominican Republic. R.I.P.

Philip Baker Hall has died

Born in Ohio, Hall didn't start acting until he was 30. His long list of credits include Zabriskie Point (1970), Miami Vice (1987, TV-series), Midnight Run (1988), Ghostbusters II (1989), Cheers (1993, TV-series), Hard Eight (1996), The Rock (1996), Air Force One (1997), Boogie Nights (1997), Seinfeld (1991-98), Rush Hour (1998), The Insider (1999), Magnolia (1999), The Talented Mr. Ripley (1999), Bruce Almighty (2003), Dogville (2003), The Zodiac (2005), Zodiac (2007), Curb Your Enthusiasm (2004-09), Mr. Popper's Penguins (2011), Modern Family (2011-12) and many more. Hall passed away at age 90. R.I.P.

Film Excess - Free Ukraine - Stop Putin - End the war NOW!!

Eagerly anticipating this week ... (15-24)

3/14/2023

Hunt for the Wilderpeople (2016) - Dynamite duo lead Waititi's break-out crowd-pleaser

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Eagerly anticipating this week ... (14-24)

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