Describe

“You don’t walk into a studio and say: ‘Nazi comedy!’” Waititi jokes.

The 44-year-old filmmaker was meeting at the Toronto International Film Festival where Waititi, jetlagged from the 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 the festival’s audience award, a prize that for the last decade has corresponded with a best-picture nomination at the Academy Awards.

“Jojo” was a hit with Toronto audiences, who celebrated Waititi’s seemingly impossible balancing act. But the critical reception has been mixed. The 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 the 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 know what’s going to happen next,” he says. “I like going from a fun moment to something tragic or shocking.”

The son of a painter and a schoolteacher, Waititi came up in Wellington, New Zealand, doing experimental stage shows and comedy acts (he and Jemaine Clement were a touring comedy duo dubbed The Humourbeasts). His first short film, 2002’s “John and Pogo,” was about a policeman and a dog, only the dog was played by a man. His 2005 short “Two Cars, One

Night,” like “Jojo Rabbit,” is about how children perceive the world. In it, two Maori kids waiting for their parents outside a pub go from hurling insults at each other to a sincere friendship in 10 minutes. It was nominated for an Oscar. During the broadcast, Waititi feigned sleeping while the category’s nominees were read.

“Jojo” producer Carthew Neal, who with Waititi set up the collective Piki Films (the name means to climb or ascend in Maori), says Waititi’s career path should surprise no one.

“This was a project he had wanted to do for quite a long time. There will be more time for big movies and they’re in the works, as well,” says Neal. “But he’s been an artist, he’s been a painter, he’s been a performing artist

in theater and now a director. It’s sort of all in the mix for him. I don’t think there’s one direct line he’s aiming to get at.”

Sam Rockwell, who plays the Hitler Youth camp leader Captain Klenzendorf, considers Waititi a visionary. “He was a smart. He had a little clout from ‘Thor’ and he was like, ‘Now I want to make this movie that nobody would make,’” says Rockwell.

Rockwell, a fan of Waititi’s previous film, was drawn to the part because it’s far from a typical Nazi. Klenzendorf, to him, had a Bill Murray vibe. “Like if Bill Murray was a disillusioned Nazi,” says Rockwell. “That was my sort of take on it. Like Walter Matthau in ‘Bad News Bears,’ a little Richard Pryor in ‘Bustin’ Loose.’”

“It’s a very unique film,” muses Rockwell. “You can’t really put your finger on it.”

Perhaps inevitably, the daringly offbeat quality

of “Jojo Rabbit” has led to some hand-wringing among executives backing the movie. Fox Searchlight has advertised it as an “anti-hate satire.” The filmmakers have sought to emphasize the film’s importance in informing younger audiences about the Holocaust, even if from a more outlandish starting point. “If that involves adding humor and absurdity, then so be it,” says Waititi. “It’s still communicating the same ideas.”

Some Disney executives were reportedly concerned about “Jojo Rabbit” being too edgy for the company after it acquired 20th Century Fox (and Fox Searchlight) earlier this year. Waititi doesn’t believe it and says Bob Iger, Disney chief executive, and Alan Horn, chief creative officer, have “gushed” over the film and been consistently supportive. He doesn’t see how “Jojo Rabbit,” once seen, poses any controversy.