Hyde Park Pick: Hunt for the Wilderpeople

The delightfully offbeat and charming Hunt for the Wilderpeople is directed by Taika Waititi, who is also to thank for the highly entertaining Eagle vs Shark and What We Do in the Shadows, the stylish dark coming-of-age comedy Jojo Rabbit, and, in what feels like a totally different field, some of Marvel’s Thor films. If you’re not familiar with his work, now’s a good time to explore his back catalogue ahead of the release of his adaptation of Kazuo Ishiguro’s Klara and the Sun. Hunt for the Wilderpeople is also based on a book – Wild Pork and Watercress by Barry Crump. Waititi made it more and more his own, though, with each new draft over the six years he perfected the film. I’m so glad we’re bringing it back to the cinema to celebrate its 10th anniversary, and make HPPH an extra joyous place while it’s showing.

A while ago, the LHT team wrote a piece on our favourite examples of Friendship on Film, and this film would have been a great contender for that list. There’s something so incredibly endearing about the unlikely friendship at its heart between urban, book-loving foster child Ricky and anti-children, wild and cantankerous foster uncle Hec.

Waititi is very skilled in balancing difficult themes with humour. For example, on paper Jojo Rabbit shouldn’t work… Hitler as an imaginary friend for a young Nazi fanatic… Hilarious, you say? But it really does work! In The Wilderpeople’s case, there’s grief, isolation and life as a foster kid to contend with, and yet there are so many absolute belly laughs. For example: “It says here that you're... Cauc... asian? Well, they got that wrong. You're obviously white.” Ten years later and that line is still cracking me up.

That should give you a good flavour of the kind of wonderfully silly, playful humour the film has. If you love Flight of the Conchords, another stellar New Zealand comedy, chances are you’ll love this too.

It’s definitely the kind of film that will leave you with a warm and fuzzy feeling and has the makings of a perfect comfort movie. So, once you watch it, you might find yourself reaching for it again and again. However, I don’t think I’d ever go quite as far as that one person who watched it 365 times – every day for a year. Even I, who adore it, think that’s a bit much.

The stunning landscapes of New Zealand make the perfect setting for an adventure comedy to watch over summer – who needs to book an all-inclusive trip when you can explore this verdant idyll from the comfort of HPPH?

Great music is essential for a great chase scene, and it doesn’t get much better than ‘Sinnerman’ by Nina Simone to accompany Ricky and Hec’s fast walk escape. And some of the cleverest camerawork in the film feels like it's given the grand accompaniment it deserves by Leonard Cohen’s ‘The Partisan’.

It might be a decade since I last watched this wonderful film, but its warmth has stayed with me ever since, and I’m very excited for a long overdue rewatch.

The 4K restoration of Hunt for the Wilderpeople is showing at HPPH from Fri 21 Aug. You can book tickets here.