I spent the afternoon yesterday swimming laps at the Brisbane Lido. (Yes, I'm using the British term for 'outdoor pool' because it sounds somehow snazzier than saying 'outdoor pool'.) The weather was a slightly puzzling 22C/74F, so I was able to lounge in the warmth by the pool post-swim. It was lovely. Not wanting to go indoors as the sun was still shining, I drove around until I found a patch of grass, sheltered from the road by some shrubbery, and plunked down on it for a snooze. Well, it was an almost snooze. I was too keyed into the birds chattering away and moving about in the shrubs and that kept me alert to the surrounding world. When ants began climbing over my hands, I took that as my cue to leave.
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The first film out of New Zealand I remember seeing was Once Were Warriors over 20 years ago. I hadn't known much about Maori culture prior to seeing the film. Once Were Warriors was a brutal history lesson. A few years ago, I saw the film What We Do In The Shadows by New Zealand director Taika Waititi. The film was funky, funny and totally off-beat. Since then, I have made it a point to see all of Waititi's films, even the mega blockbuster, Thor Ragnarok.
Here's a snippet from What We Do In The Shadows for your viewing pleasure---
In an effort to prevent wildfires from sparking, our local, electric company has been engaging in 'controlled service outages'. That means that thousands of households in and around the Bay Area will be continually, temporarily without service for the duration. On one such outage evening, the hubs and I went to see the film JoJo Rabbit. I would wager that Waititi may have been influenced, in part, by Mel Brooks, and, probably, Charlie Chaplin. For me, watching a film that makes fun of Nazis is always a good time. Waititi both directed JoJo Rabbit and played the young lead's imaginary friend, Adolf Hitler. If only Adolf were alive to see a half-Maori, a half-Jew play him in a movie!
JoJo Rabbit wasn't all laughs, as one might imagine, and it did a decent job of showing the absurdity of the Third Reich's policies. The cast was solid. And I thought that the young lead, Roman Griffin Davis, had a stand-out performance. Did any of you happen to see the film as well?
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Divided we stood.
At the weekend, a bunch of us Prop K volunteers along with the group behind getting the proposition up and running met up on The Great Highw...
I hope to see "Jo Jo Rabbit" this week! I'm a Taika Waititi fan too.
ReplyDeleteThe film is a trip! As a fellow Waititi fan, you're sure to enjoy it. :)
DeleteOnce Were Warriors is brutal and not in the least up my alley these days. WWDITS, however, is very much so. I'm guessing you may have seen the TV-series Flight of the Conchords - the NZ folk duo trying to hit the big time in NYC? Extremely silly and stars a couple of the same actors and the same reliably quirky humour. The last silly film NZ film I saw was Hunt for the Wilderpeople. Sweet and good-natured.
ReplyDeleteI like that you're swimming at the lido. We should all adopt a fading word in an attempt to keep them alive!
Yes, the lido is fab. I'm grateful to have it nearby.
DeleteOnce Were Warriors is a film that I could only ever watch once. I don't think I could sit through that type of film again. I feel the same way about Breaking The Waves.
I LOVED Flight of the Conchords when it came out.
Sam Neill is a brilliant actor and I really enjoyed his performance in Hunt for the Wilderpeople. Heck, everyone in that film was top-notch.
Maybe the power company will now get off its duff and bury those power lines. I know they'd started it, but they've stalled in that work. That would so help during windy season.
ReplyDeleteWe're supposed to be in for high winds already this week. :S
DeleteI miss all the good films. I haven't been to a movie theater in over forty hears. I'm still trying to catch up on YouTube for all the lost years. :(
ReplyDeleteYouTube is a good resource!
DeleteThe only word remaining to me from my Italian is lido, a beach. Somehow I'd never stumbled across it in English literature, or if I did, assumed it was appropriated from the Italian, as it mean the same thing.
ReplyDeleteThat's interesting, Joanne. I had assumed that 'lido' was a borrowed word in English, but hadn't thought of its derivation.
DeleteI am bad at swimming... Not too bad!
ReplyDeleteI have found it a good way to exercise the limbs!
DeleteI heard that it was a great film but I haven't had the chance yet to watch it. What We Do In The Shadows is great and Thor Ragnarok is one of my favorite Marvel movies so I guess Taika Waititi might be pretty good at his job. I will have to check out that documentary that you mentioned.
ReplyDeleteI bet you'd like Waititi's Hunt for the Wilderpeople as well. It's a really sweet story and stars Sam Neill and other solid NZ actors. I think it's suitable for kidlets, too.
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