Don't Mention the War. 4 / 5
Directed by Taika Waititi.
A World War II satire that follows a lonely German boy whose world view is turned upside down when he discovers his single mother is hiding a young Jewish girl in their attic. Aided only by his idiotic imaginary friend, Adolf Hitler, Jojo must confront his blind nationalism.
The treacherous and disgusting horrors of war are put on full show in the dark and definitely serious Jojo Rabbit.
I am a massive Taika Waititi fan, so as soon as this was announced it became of one my anticipated of the festival. And where I probably should have managed my expectations a little better, I still had a great time with Jojo Rabbit.
You can't help but laugh at its absurdity. An outrageous satire on the effects of war on the youth that is surrounded by it is an understandably touchy topic but by pushing it to the silliest of extremes there's so much the filmmakers can get away with.
A very slapstick and flamboyant film, it gets in your face poking fun at Nazis at every opportunity and I wish there was more of Waititi as Jojo's imaginary friend… Adolf Hitler. Everything he said got a laugh in my screening and where for me it didn't always it land, when it did it really did culminating in my favourite moment and without spoilers, it is hands down the best use of the one time f-bomb that I have ever seen.
Tonally it's a little all over the place especially in the third act, the problem with going so ludicrous is that when it tries to get serious, it starts to get messy.
A brilliantly unique film, I'm kind of in awe that it even got made. Not Waititi's best but I love that he now has the budget and the audience to be as imaginative as he wants.
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