HUNT FOR THE WILDER PEOPLE 2016

TAIKA WAITITI’S ADAPTATION of Wild Pork And Watercress, a New Zealand set text by Barry Crump, takes all the liberties you would expect of this writer-director, who turned vampires into a laughing stock and Thor into a comedy icon. Yet Waititi still arrives at a hilarious, endearing and deeply moving story of two lonely people who connect in the strangest way possible. The not-so-secret weapon is the casting. Julian Dennison’s wary foster kid Ricky Baker is instantly loveable despite — or because of — his best efforts to be a tough gangster rapper, plans that are seriously dented when he’s sent to the middle of nowhere to live with Sam Neill’s grumpy Hec and his unfailingly cheery wife Bella (Rima Te Wiata). When Ricky tries to run away and Hec goes after him, they’re brought together in a struggle for survival.

Waititi amps up the absurdity of their situation until the pair are on the run from the entire country, pursued by a psychotic social worker (Rachel House) and what looks like a large proportion of New Zealand’s standing army. But behind all the wacky chase scenes and surreal humour, there’s something real and true here that elevates it to a story about grief and isolation, and finding your own family. Even as the film builds towards the sort of huge, action-packed ending that Waititi felt Ricky Baker demanded, it’s still just about a young boy who wants to find somewhere he belongs. That’s why you’ll root for them the whole way. Skux 4 life.