Eagle vs Shark (2007)

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) (as Loren Horsley), Taika Waititi (story)

Stars:

Loren Taylor, Jemaine Clement, Craig Hall

6 wins & 4 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
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, wallflower Lily is inexplicably attracted to loser Jarrod. She's out of a job; he's nursing a decade-long grudge against someone who teased him in high school. When she accompanies him to his seacoast hometown where he intends to take on his nemesis, she meets his father, his daughter from a one-night stand, and other family members--plus the memory of his talented, dead brother. Jarrod treats Lily badly, invents a relationship with his dead brother's fiancée, and gears up for his fight. Will she finally have enough and go home?

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Plot Keywords:

man wears eyeglasses | nunchaku | typographic abbreviation in title | dead brother | shark | 

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Taglines:

Luckily, love is blind.

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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

Did You Know?

Trivia

The script was work-shopped at the exclusive Sundance Director's and Screenwriter's Labs. In January 2005, Taika Waititi attended the exclusive Sundance Screenwriters' Lab to workshop a feature project, 'Choice', and was again selected in July 2005 to attend the Directors' Lab with tune 'Eagle vs Shark'. It was the first time a writer or director had been chosen to workshop two different projects at Sundance.

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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

Lily: I have two things to say. One: I am leaving tomorrow on a bus. Two: that could change.

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Connections

References A Clockwork Orange (1971)

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Soundtracks

I Love You, Awesome
Written by Samuel Flynn Scott & Conrad Wedde
Performed by The Phoenix Foundation

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.

Details

Official Sites:

Hanway Films Madman Entertainment [Australia]

Country:

New Zealand

Language:

English

Release Date:

30 August 2007 (New Zealand)

Also Known As:

Eagle vs Shark

Filming Locations:

North Island, New Zealand

Box Office

Opening Weekend USA:

$20,361, 17 June 2007

Gross USA:

$221,846

Cumulative Worldwide Gross:

$1,298,037

Company Credits

Production Co:

New Zealand Film Commission, Unison Films, Whenua Films

Technical Specs

Runtime:

93 min 93 min

Sound Mix:

Dolby Digital DTS

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1