Director and writer, Taika Waititi, talks about why his new movie Boy has the ’superjuice’ lacking in many Mäori films.

He’s taking over. It’s the truth. He’s on a mission and, thanks to the Midas touch of producers Ainsley Gardiner, Cliff Curtis and Emmanuel Michael, he’s not likely to stop until he gets enough. Taiki Waititi’s new film Boy is about to hit screens near you. So just beat it and make like wildfire to your local cinema. Get off the wall from your nine to five and enjoy this trip back to the 80s when big hair, shoulder pad bearing, punk rocking, break-dancing adolescents ghetto blasted their leg warmers and leotards all the way to the corner dairy. Reach back into the darkest edge of your closet and blow the dust off your sequinned glove and red leather jacket. Shake your body on to the ground because this one’s a thriller.

Written and directed by Waititi, Boy is a hilarious and heartfelt coming-of-age tale about heroes, magic and you guessed it – Michael Jackson. Set in the rural township of Waihau Bay circa 1982, the film centres on 11-year-old Boy (James Rolleston) whose mother died while giving birth to his younger brother Rocky (Te Aho Eketone-Whitu). Boy has little memory of his father Alamein (played by Waititi), but imagines him as a master carver, deep-sea treasure diver, war hero, rugby legend and close relative of the King of Pop. In reality Alamein is an inept, wannabe gangster who has been in jail for robbery.

When Alamein breaks out of prison and returns home to recover a stash of stolen buried cash, Boy is eager for his father to re-enter his life. But as the self-serving Alamein is caught up in a series of skulduggery antics from robbing the local dope growers to brawling in the town’s one and only pub, Boy must reconcile with reality. As he confronts the truth about his father and observes Alameins’s wonderfully dim-witted display of gumboot thuggery, Boy is left with little more than his vivid imagination to escape.

Enter the King of Pop.

Dreaming up visions of his father as Michael Jackson, he frequently sees Alamein in a series of music videos from Beat It to Billy Jean when the going gets tough. The result is a mostly light-hearted story about family relationships and the innocence of an adolescent mind struggling to understand the alternate universe of adulthood.
Boy has received favourable international reviews since premiering at the Sundance Film Festival recently. Inspired by his Oscar nominated short Two Cars, One Night, it is Waititi’s second feature film which critics say “marks a step up in maturity.” So how did this Te Whänau-ä-Apanui native achieve what few Mäori filmmakers have yet to accomplish?

Three words: shifting the boundaries.

Unlike the current line up of Mäori films, Waititi says he wanted to make a film that breaks away from current ideas that pigeon hole Mäori stories into either the Once Were Warriors or Whale Rider genres. Adamant that he’s just as immature as ever, his reflections on the future of the Mäori film industry are not.

“We’ve got to get away from promoting this image that we’re either real tough wife beating alcoholics or were spiritual beings who ride whales and talk to trees. We’re pretty normal, we’re just people man,” says Waititi who wants to see more Mäori filmmakers make unique stories which expand on current styles and themes.

Beyond that to be successful, Waititi says that filmmakers need to expand their thinking in terms of narrative and story. “We’re an oral culture and pass traditions through stories. And we’re funny. Anyone who doesn’t know that doesn’t know us.”

While Waititi believes the Mäori film industry has great appeal both domestically and internationally, maintaining that reputation will depend on how well future generations of filmmakers can develop their skills. With little emphasis placed on creative story-telling in schools, he says that a lot of potential is being lost to the industry.
“Mäori are creative. Everything to do with our world is creative; it is art. And kids aren’t often encouraged to harness that because it’s not valued. As a result, they think they’re dumb.”

Through his sobering wit and flair for crafting stories with subtle dramatic tones, Waititi says he is inspired by stories that can resonate with people long after they leave the theatre.
“While the audience I wanted to target was first Mäori and then New Zealanders, I wanted to make the film accessible to others. This is not a film that excludes people who aren’t Mäori because it has deeper messages that everyone can relate too.”

No doubt Boy will receive mixed reviews from the usual suspects of New Zealand’s fraternity of film experts and critics, but it’s certainly got the super juice that the struggling industry lacks: comic relief. Adamant that it’s time to change the record and “just make different stuff,” Waititi is a creative talent who has made a story full of homegrown nostalgic ‘bliss.’

But it certainly wasn’t a walk in the park, admits Waititi.
“The major challenge in making the film was that no one’s got any money. Everyone’s poor because of the economy and no one’s buying films.” Against all odds, his talented team of producers managed to secure almost six million dollars to make Boy. While much of the funding came from the New Zealand Film Commission and Te Mängai Paho, capital was also raised through financing from U.S. sources.

In an increasingly lacklustre industry that is/was/may likely be Hollywood, finding a niche with more discerning film buffs could see Boy shift the tide of Mäori cinematic history. And why not? One only has to look at the top five grossing movies in New Zealand, four of which are Mäori and Pacific films, to see that the world is looking for stories with a difference. So let’s spill more sherry for Boy: a film that marks a coming of age for the Mäori film industry.