Eagle vs Shark (2007)

Eagle vs Shark is the tale of two socially awkward misfits and the strange ways they try to find love; through revenge on high-school bullies, burgers, and video games.

Director:

Taika Waititi

Writers:

Loren Taylor (story), Taika Waititi (story),

Stars:

Loren Taylor, Jemaine Clement, Joel Tobeck

5 wins & 3 nominations.

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Loren Taylor	...	Lily (as Loren Horsley)
Jemaine Clement	...	Jarrod
Joel Tobeck	...	Damon
Brian Sergent	...	Jonah
Craig Hall	...	Doug Davis
Rachel House	...	Nancy
Morag Hills	...	Vinny
Bernard Stewart	...	Zane
Taika Waititi	...	Gordon
David Fane	...	Eric Elisi
Cohen Holloway	...	Mason
Gentiane Lupi	...	Tracy
Chelsie Preston Crayford	...	Jenny
Adam Gardiner	...	Tony
Jackie van Beek	...	Burger Staff

Storyline

In Wellington, Lily is a wallflower, inexplicably attracted to Jerrod, a loser. He's nursing a decade-long grudge against someone who teased him in high school; she's just out of a job. She goes home with him to a seacoast town where he intends to have it out with his nemesis; she meets his father, his daughter from a one-night stand, and other family members - and there's the memory of his talented (and dead) brother. Jerrod treats Lily badly, invents a relationship with a women he had a crush on years before, and gears up for his fight. Will she finally have enough and go home?

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Plot Keywords:

shark | dead brother | love | revenge | bully | 

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Taglines:

Opposites. Unattractive.

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Genres:

Comedy | Romance

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Motion Picture Rating (MPAA)

Rated R for language, some sexuality, and brief animated violence

Details

Official Sites:

NZonScreen listing Official DVD site

Country:

New Zealand

Language:

English

Release Date:

30 August 2007 (New Zealand)

Also Known As:

Aetos enantion karharia

Filming Locations:

Cuba Mall, Wellington, New Zealand

Box Office

Opening Weekend:

£47,845 (UK) (17 August 2007)

Gross:

£47,845 (UK) (17 August 2007)

Company Credits

Production Co:

New Zealand Film Commission, Unison Films, Whenua Films

Technical Specs

Runtime:

88 min 93 min

Sound Mix:

Dolby Digital DTS

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

Jarrod originally had a son but 'Taika Waititi' was so impressed by Morag Hills that he changed the character to a girl so she could play the role.

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Goofs

During the Fight Man competition there is a character whose combat name is Blaze. Although he is seen playing just before Jarred, his game character is seen much earlier in the tournament.

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Quotes

Jarrod: I'm so complex!

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Connections

References Pulp Fiction (1994)

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Soundtracks

"80's Celebration"
Performed by The Reduction Agents

User Reviews

You decide.

Eagle vs. Shark is not another "inspired-by" high school athletic epic but rather a romantic comedy as strange as you will find this year. Actually I had to go back to 1971 with John Cassavetes' Minnie and Moskowitz and Hal Ashby's Harold and Maude to find equivalently eccentric couples meeting the challenges of decidedly unromantic love. Lily (Loren Horsley) is the naïve victim of society's meanness (she loses a job at Meaty Burger, where most of us wouldn't even eat, much less work; Jerrod (Jemaine Clement) is a slacker clerk out of Napoleon Dynamite's class.

This New-Zealand funky romance is partly funded by a fellowship from Sundance, not a guarantee of quality but a sign there might be something more that the initial impression that director Taika Waititi is being condescending to these less than brilliant lovers. After a while, I lost my own condescension and warmed to the simplicity of Lily's love for the obtuse and dorky Jerrod, as well as Jerrod's struggle with his feelings for this lovable flake. I also found comfort as I placed the protagonists in the same lineup with eccentric characters out of the imaginations of Bill Forsythe and David Lynch.

For example, the socially-clumsy Jarrod asks the introverted Lily if she'd like to have sex; she immediately replies, "Yep." The fleeting act, in which it takes longer to affix the condom than to perform, is charmingly innocent and inept.

Most of the family members are either socially unprepared or physically handicapped, a metaphor for the difficulties of social integration for unsophisticated but good-hearted underachievers. The oddball spirit of the film is embodied in the animal-costume party, for which Jarrod hosts as an eagle and Lily arrives as a shark. Thus the title, the endearing characters, and the difficulty deciding if this is an understated farce about the fringes of society or an exaltation of diversity and simplicity. You decide.