A faded television actor and his stunt double strive to achieve fame and success in the film industry during the final years of Hollywood's Golden Age in 1969 Los Angeles.
April 6th, 1917. As a regiment assembles to wage war deep in enemy territory, two soldiers are assigned to race against time and deliver a message that will stop 1,600 men from walking straight into a deadly trap.
Director:
Sam Mendes
Stars:
Dean-Charles Chapman,
George MacKay,
Daniel Mays
American car designer Carroll Shelby and driver Ken Miles battle corporate interference and the laws of physics to build a revolutionary race car for Ford in order to defeat Ferrari at the 24 Hours of Le Mans in 1966.
In Gotham City, mentally troubled comedian Arthur Fleck is disregarded and mistreated by society. He then embarks on a downward spiral of revolution and bloody crime. This path brings him face-to-face with his alter-ego: the Joker.
Director:
Todd Phillips
Stars:
Joaquin Phoenix,
Robert De Niro,
Zazie Beetz
Jo March reflects back and forth on her life, telling the beloved story of the March sisters - four young women each determined to live life on their own terms.
A poor family, the Kims, con their way into becoming the servants of a rich family, the Parks. But their easy life gets complicated when their deception is threatened with exposure.
After the devastating events of Avengers: Infinity War (2018), the universe is in ruins. With the help of remaining allies, the Avengers assemble once more in order to reverse Thanos' actions and restore balance to the universe.
Directors:
Anthony Russo,
Joe Russo
Stars:
Robert Downey Jr.,
Chris Evans,
Mark Ruffalo
A charismatic New York City jeweler always on the lookout for the next big score makes a series of high-stakes bets that could lead to the windfall of a lifetime. Howard must perform a precarious high-wire act, balancing business, family, and encroaching adversaries on all sides in his relentless pursuit of the ultimate win.
A World War II satire that follows a lonely German boy named Jojo (Roman Griffin Davis) whose world view is turned upside down when he discovers his single mother (Scarlett Johansson) is hiding a young Jewish girl (Thomasin McKenzie) in their attic. Aided only by his idiotic imaginary friend, Adolf Hitler (Taika Waititi), Jojo must confront his blind nationalism.Written by
Fox Searchlight Pictures
Throughout the movie Adolf Hitler offered Jojo cigarettes. In real life he hated cigarettes. He did not allow others to smoke around him. See more »
Goofs
Elsa gives the wrong birth date to the Gestapo when she is masquerading as Inge. However, Jojo never realizes this until after Elsa explains it to him. Jojo should know his own sister's birthday. See more »
Probably one of the most controversial films to come out of TIFF, I went into Jojo Rabbit with cautionious optimism since I am fan of Taika Waititi while still being aware of the divineness it has spawned in some critics. I was pleasantly surprised on how emotional and thought provoking he made this film while still being very funny without going too far.
Jojo is a 10-year old boy who dreams of fighting for his country and making his hero proud. And that hero just so happens to be Adolf Hitler during the final year of WW2. Jojo's blind fanaticism is so extreme he imagines Adolf as his best friend to give him advice, which to no surprise, is not that helpful. After an accident at the Hitler Youth camp, Jojo has to stay with his mother only to discover she is hiding Elsa, a teenage girl who is the very thing his Nazis beliefs have told him to fear and hate: a Jew. As Jojo tries to learn about Elsa's "kind", he begins to sees Elsa as the thoughtful yet scared person she really is and not the monster his beliefs have told her to be.
The smartest thing I can say is Waitia knows when to make a joke about Nazi's beliefs and ideals but then let the bleakness of WW2 set in to embrace the deeper themes and emotions. Within the first act, Jojo sees his world through rose-tinted glasses as he gleefully gives the Nazi salute to his fellow neighbours on a bright sunny day. All of the Nazi characters are heightened and exaggerated for comic relief from Sam Rockwell's Captain Klenzendorf being a tired and annoyed German soldier, Rebel Wilson as the ignorant Fraulein Rahm to Stephen Merchant as the Gestapo agent Deertz. Waititi takes pleasure in making Nazis the but of the joke from showing them being over-committed to saluting each other for just a simple introduction to their obliviousness of believing any stupid fake news they are told came from Hilter himself.
Once Jojo settles with Elsa sharing his house, his world begins show its true ugliness as Germany becomes more desperate to hold their ground against the Allied forces. At that point Waititi slows down on the comedy and allows moments of shock and drama to settle in to remind the audience what is the horrible cost of ignorance and blind faith. Cinematographer Mihai Malaimare Jr. switches the color scheme from bright and saturated to cold and grey as the seasons pass to reflect the change in Jojo's state of mind. The parallels to the modern day become very clear without getting too blunt.
The cast plays each of their roles perfectly. Roman Griffin Davis carries the story as a naïve but yet innocence Jojo. Davis is perfectly cast with perfect comedic timing while still being able to sell the emotional beats that are needed. And he has great comedic and emotional chemistry with Thomasin McKenzie as Elsa. McKenzie displays the hardship her character has gone throughout her life and yet still making her fun and sharp-witted when she points out shallowness of Jojo's ideals. Also who is worth mentioning is Scarlett Johansson as Jojo's mother Rosie. Probably the best performance of Johansson I have seen so far, she brings a huge feeling of joy and optimism that is needed to help Jojo's growth as a character. Out of all of the adults that are blind to the horrors the Axis power is inflicting upon the world, Rosie is the only one that is able to see through it and confront it. As for the big question of Waititi himself playing a young boy's interpretation of Adolf Hitler, he handles it very well. His comedic performance is there to show the absurdity of Jojo's brainwashing from the Nazis's teaching. And it helps that he never to tries to humanize the portrayal of his character. There were even a few moments where he becomes a bit more antagonistic towards Jojo as he begins doubting the faith in his idol.
Jojo Rabbit may be a controversial pick if it does get nominated for awards consideration (after I saw it on the last day of TIFF, it surprisingly won the People's Choice Award), but I feel like it is a movie needed for today's political issues. Taika Waititi uses the story of a boy's misguided fantasy and faith to show how easy it is for society to be manipulated into hating minorities, religions and/or groups of people especially when fake news and social media is present. But by the end of the day he shows that compassion and love are still worth embracing in a cruel world so as long as we are able to confront to cruelty in ourselves first.
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Probably one of the most controversial films to come out of TIFF, I went into Jojo Rabbit with cautionious optimism since I am fan of Taika Waititi while still being aware of the divineness it has spawned in some critics. I was pleasantly surprised on how emotional and thought provoking he made this film while still being very funny without going too far.
Jojo is a 10-year old boy who dreams of fighting for his country and making his hero proud. And that hero just so happens to be Adolf Hitler during the final year of WW2. Jojo's blind fanaticism is so extreme he imagines Adolf as his best friend to give him advice, which to no surprise, is not that helpful. After an accident at the Hitler Youth camp, Jojo has to stay with his mother only to discover she is hiding Elsa, a teenage girl who is the very thing his Nazis beliefs have told him to fear and hate: a Jew. As Jojo tries to learn about Elsa's "kind", he begins to sees Elsa as the thoughtful yet scared person she really is and not the monster his beliefs have told her to be.
The smartest thing I can say is Waitia knows when to make a joke about Nazi's beliefs and ideals but then let the bleakness of WW2 set in to embrace the deeper themes and emotions. Within the first act, Jojo sees his world through rose-tinted glasses as he gleefully gives the Nazi salute to his fellow neighbours on a bright sunny day. All of the Nazi characters are heightened and exaggerated for comic relief from Sam Rockwell's Captain Klenzendorf being a tired and annoyed German soldier, Rebel Wilson as the ignorant Fraulein Rahm to Stephen Merchant as the Gestapo agent Deertz. Waititi takes pleasure in making Nazis the but of the joke from showing them being over-committed to saluting each other for just a simple introduction to their obliviousness of believing any stupid fake news they are told came from Hilter himself. Once Jojo settles with Elsa sharing his house, his world begins show its true ugliness as Germany becomes more desperate to hold their ground against the Allied forces. At that point Waititi slows down on the comedy and allows moments of shock and drama to settle in to remind the audience what is the horrible cost of ignorance and blind faith. Cinematographer Mihai Malaimare Jr. switches the color scheme from bright and saturated to cold and grey as the seasons pass to reflect the change in Jojo's state of mind. The parallels to the modern day become very clear without getting too blunt.
The cast plays each of their roles perfectly. Roman Griffin Davis carries the story as a naïve but yet innocence Jojo. Davis is perfectly cast with perfect comedic timing while still being able to sell the emotional beats that are needed. And he has great comedic and emotional chemistry with Thomasin McKenzie as Elsa. McKenzie displays the hardship her character has gone throughout her life and yet still making her fun and sharp-witted when she points out shallowness of Jojo's ideals. Also who is worth mentioning is Scarlett Johansson as Jojo's mother Rosie. Probably the best performance of Johansson I have seen so far, she brings a huge feeling of joy and optimism that is needed to help Jojo's growth as a character. Out of all of the adults that are blind to the horrors the Axis power is inflicting upon the world, Rosie is the only one that is able to see through it and confront it. As for the big question of Waititi himself playing a young boy's interpretation of Adolf Hitler, he handles it very well. His comedic performance is there to show the absurdity of Jojo's brainwashing from the Nazis's teaching. And it helps that he never to tries to humanize the portrayal of his character. There were even a few moments where he becomes a bit more antagonistic towards Jojo as he begins doubting the faith in his idol.
Jojo Rabbit may be a controversial pick if it does get nominated for awards consideration (after I saw it on the last day of TIFF, it surprisingly won the People's Choice Award), but I feel like it is a movie needed for today's political issues. Taika Waititi uses the story of a boy's misguided fantasy and faith to show how easy it is for society to be manipulated into hating minorities, religions and/or groups of people especially when fake news and social media is present. But by the end of the day he shows that compassion and love are still worth embracing in a cruel world so as long as we are able to confront to cruelty in ourselves first.