Jojo Rabbit reviews

Reza
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Re: Jojo Rabbit reviews

Post by Reza »

Sonic Youth wrote:Sabin, I only skimmed your review, but are you sure it was "I Want to Hold Your Hand" you heard? The trailer plays "I'm a Believer".
The German cover of the Beatles' song was the best part. The film went downhill after that. Yes dreary and slow as hell. And not funny at all. In fact Hitler was the most annoying character of them all (yes he was probably meant to be.....maybe?) which in a strange way was a disservice to him because despite the vile nature of his crimes he has always been an interesting and dramatically charismatic character in every film he has appeared in. It is always fun to hate him as the chief villain and he does not come across as funny when he is parodied. The only time that worked was in Mel Brooks' "The Producers" during the Springtime For Hitler number.
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Re: Jojo Rabbit reviews

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As this film progressed it became more dreary by the minute and I was relieved once it was over.

It starts off amusingly enough even though it never raised a laugh with me aside from one unintentional one. Actually aside from that unintentionally funny moment I don't think I heard any laughter at all through the film, though one member of the audience sunk into a deep loud sleep in the second half and I could hardly blame him.

It plays best when it plays broad but whenever it tries to go deeper it falls over badly. Because of that one note Rebel Wilson comes off as best in show and the film could have used more of her - never thought I'd say that about her. I liked Sam Rockwell despite that I don't think Waititi actually knew what to do with the character. He is probably the most grounded of the characters and moves easily between drama, comedy and surprisingly pathos.

The film grinds to a half towards the being of the second half and if you read Sabin's review after the spoiler alert that's partly the reason the film sinks. Its also way too long. I noticed it was based on a novel - I wonder have faithful it is to the novel. Either way I get how divided people are on the film.
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Re: Jojo Rabbit reviews

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Sonic Youth wrote
Sabin, I only skimmed your review, but are you sure it was "I Want to Hold Your Hand" you heard? The trailer plays "I'm a Believer".
It's a German cover of "I Want to Hold Your Hand."
Sonic Youth wrote
My main issue with Jojo Rabbit - based only on the preview - is very simple. First "Kids, it's time to burn some books!", "Yaaaaaay!!". Then "I wish all young boys had your blind fanaticism". If this is the type of comic-strip humor that's all throughout the film, it'll set my teeth on edge. Back when Mel Brooks made "The Producers", this would have been "edgy" material, but after decades of "South Park" and "The Simpsons", it's obvious and pandering and it only feels fresh probably because it's a live-action format.
I would agree to that.
Sonic Youth wrote
That said, I admit I could have been mistaken about AMPAS. If Toronto could fall hard for this, then it's very possible that AMPAS could also. Just.... stop saying this is edgy and daring! If this was a movie about a boy reminiscing on Trump's Immigration and Custom's Department (with an ICE Youth Movement), THEN it'd be daring. Anyone want to make THAT movie instead?
I didn't say it was edgy and daring. But I know that you are not exactly referring to me. You're referring to the campaign surrounding it. I would certainly agree with you there. This is Fox Searchlight through and through. It's as terribly safe as a movie marketed as an "Anti-Hate Satire" could be.
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Re: Jojo Rabbit reviews

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Sabin, I only skimmed your review, but are you sure it was "I Want to Hold Your Hand" you heard? The trailer plays "I'm a Believer".

My main issue with Jojo Rabbit - based only on the preview - is very simple. First "Kids, it's time to burn some books!", "Yaaaaaay!!". Then "I wish all young boys had your blind fanaticism". If this is the type of comic-strip humor that's all throughout the film, it'll set my teeth on edge. Back when Mel Brooks made "The Producers", this would have been "edgy" material, but after decades of "South Park" and "The Simpsons", it's obvious and pandering and it only feels fresh probably because it's a live-action format.

That said, I admit I could have been mistaken about AMPAS. If Toronto could fall hard for this, then it's very possible that AMPAS could also. Just.... stop saying this is edgy and daring! If this was a movie about a boy reminiscing on Trump's Immigration and Custom's Department (with an ICE Youth Movement), THEN it'd be daring. Anyone want to make THAT movie instead?
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Re: Jojo Rabbit reviews

Post by Sabin »

I've been thinking quite a bit about Jojo Rabbit. I'll give my general impressions and then there will be some spoilers which get into what really bothers me about this film. Bottom line, I liked this movie, I was troubled by some aspects of it. The reasons why I am troubled will not affect the fact that it's probably going to win Best Picture.

I was quite taken with Jojo Rabbit pretty early on. It starts off very funny with a German cover of "I Want To Hold Your Hands" set to video of Adolph Hitler, setting the tone for the entire film. Taika Watiki views Nazism as a fad sweeping the nation. Now, I'm sure many could find fault with this interpretation. I'm fine with it. The film never quite hits that level of bite again. It settles into more conventional territory but it should be said that Taika does a pretty excellent job of winding his story up from the start. He tracks Jojo's relationship with his imaginary friend Hitler (Taika Watiki) and his mother (Scarlett Johansson) as ideological opposites battling for his soul. I've heard grumblings that ScarJo is too woke and modern, but I think it's a smart choice to set her up as an equally larger--than-life comic figure like Hitler (what a sentence). Verisimilitude is out the window by minute one. He also tracks Jojos' relationship with the girl upstairs that ScarJo is saving, played by Thomasin McKenzie who is there to challenge Jojo ideologically and provide him with his first love, because this is a movie that states pretty clearly that love trumps hate. This may be a simple, if not naive conviction but I don't disagree with it. Over the course of this tight little narrative, Taika de-programs Jojo from his fanaticism (and he is an explicitly fanatic) in a Nazi Germany that is replete with absurd gags, non-sequiturs, and adult who act like pre-schoolers.

Jojo Rabbit is a movie Marco should be here for because he would have a field day. After twenty years of shitting on Life is Beautiful, the American critics gave a free pass to this?!? (Well, not exactly, it sits at 77%) But he would have a point. Despite the fact that it's auteur is from New Zealand, Americans are more comfortable with childhood than adulthood, and Jojo Rabbit is certainly a comic bauble depiction of Nazi Germany. I was mostly comfortable with it. It certainly helps that Roman Griffin Davis is a wonderful child actor. Every year or two, we bandy about the notion of a kid being nominated for an Oscar and it almost never happens. Davis won't but he maybe should be (compared to his inevitable competition). Owen Gleiberman dismisses him as "a child actor with the face of a thousand emojis." And he's not wrong, but the whole film pivots on his expressions so much that the film owes almost everything to his talent.

Now we come to my bigger gripes. Gripe #3 enters spoiler territory but they both deal with the bigger issues.

1) Jojo Rabbit claims to be an "Anti-Hate Satire." It utterly fails to dramatize the de-programming of Jojo. A lot of this blame falls on Thomasin McKenzie's Attic Jew who never confronts Jojo with the harsh truths about his beliefs. No fault of McKenzie (she's doing everything Watiki wants her to) but it never gets real between them. She is always toying with him, playing along, treating him like a kid... All of these actions are understandable but they constitute a missed opportunity because they are the only scenes where Jojo can be effectively de-programmed and Watiki loses sight of that. Which means that Jojo Rabbit is an "Anti-Hate Satire" that forgets to dramatize the de-programming. I have a real problem with that because it means that the film isn't really taking this subject matter seriously.

2) To further this point, Jojo's relationship with Imaginary Hitler never changes. This is such a fucking gimme I can't believe it. As Jojo struggles with his ideology, his relationship with Imaginary Hitler should change, thus showing us how hate takes root.

SPOILERS
SPOILERS
SPOILERS

3) Around the midpoint, Jojo discovers that Nazis kill his mother. The way that Taika directs it is masterful (it should be said, he juggles tones extremely well). Jojo's first response to discovering his mother is to try to kill Thomasin McKenzie's Attic Jew. Really interesting stuff. But whatever mourning Jojo does for his mother lives ENTIRELY off-screen. I think this is a pretty silly notion but I can go with it. Much of the rest of the movie lives off-screen as Jojo essentially plays house with Attic Jew. He eventually has to leave the house for some reason I don't recall just as the Germans are losing the war. He learns from his tubby Nazi friend Yorki (very funny) that Hitler is dead. He is affected... We're never quite told how but clearly he is emotionally affected and feels bad. He then watches Germany lose the war. This is also emotionally affecting for him but why? Because he didn't know there would be fighting? Because it's finally real for him? Because his side just lost? Unclear, but one thing is certain: Jojo is still kind of a Nazi by the time the Germans lose the war. It's up to Sam Rockwell's kindly closeted gay Nazi to save his life for similarly unclear reasons...

Which brings me to my point: Jojo is done being a Nazi only after the Nazis lose. Not after they kill his Mom. Not after they search his house and almost kill his Attic Jew Girlfriend. He's only 100% done being a Nazi after the Nazis lose.

How did THAT happen? Didn't anybody point that out going into production? Jojo is literally given every reason in the world to not want to be a Nazi. If Taika Watiki needed Jojo to see the war, I can off the top of my head think of ten different ways to have him leave the house. He can be conscripted on an errand and forced to fight but he doesn't want to. It's so easy. I need one scene where he makes a choice and says "I don't want to be a Nazi." WHO IN THE AUDIENCE ISN'T THERE FOR THAT MOMENT?

And if this movie isn't about that moment where he turns on being a Nazi, then it's not an Anti-Hate Satire and I'm not here for it.

There is so much I like about Jojo Rabbit but it's been such a long time since a movie made me so mad. I say this not as a Jew, not as the grandson of a Holocaust survivor, but as an adult.
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Re: Jojo Rabbit reviews

Post by Sabin »

My take on Jojo Rabbit has been pulled as I think about it some more...
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Re: Jojo Rabbit reviews

Post by anonymous1980 »

It won People's Choice at TIFF today.
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Re: Jojo Rabbit reviews

Post by Sabin »

Mister Tee wrote
I'd been taking the advance buzz on Jojo Rabbit seriously fully because of how much I liked Wilderpeople.
That film was a charmer.

Last week, I wrote that Jojo Rabbit might not crack 75% on RT. Today, that's exactly where it sits, 20% up, which is 3% shy of Green Book. It is certainly upward trending so it's likely to hit 80% which would put it in the lower acclaim tier of Oscar winners.

Sight unseen, if I had to predict a winner right now, it would be Jojo Rabbit
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Re: Jojo Rabbit reviews

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Okri wrote:I wholeheartedly enjoyed both "Wilderpeople" and "What We Do in the Shadows."
I'd been taking the advance buzz on Jojo Rabbit seriously fully because of how much I liked Wilderpeople.
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Re: Jojo Rabbit reviews

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I wholeheartedly enjoyed both "Wilderpeople" and "What We Do in the Shadows."
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Re: Jojo Rabbit reviews

Post by Sabin »

JoJo Rabbit wins the Audience Award
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Re: Jojo Rabbit reviews

Post by Sabin »

Precious Doll wrote
How many people have actually seen Taika Waititi's earlier films (i.e. his native New Zealand films not that superhero film he did)?
I enjoyed The Hunt for the Wilderpeople quite a bit but there's a slight calling-card quality to it, even as a $2.5 mil feature. It's very (perhaps overly) structured and a lot of style and technique meant to tickle. I found myself marveling at Taika Waitiki's talent rather than feeling drawn into a film.
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Re: Jojo Rabbit reviews

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How many people have actually seen Taika Waititi's earlier films (i.e. his native New Zealand films not that superhero film he did)?

Given this appears to be a rather personal work as he also wrote the screenplay, it should be noted that his earlier films are very much an acquired taste. Some simply adore his work, others shudder. Myself, I'm on the fence about What We Do in the Shadows (2014) & Hunt for the Wilderpeople (2016) - they are both very watchable but basically didn't really tickle my funny bone. A good friend of mine hated Boy (2010) which I have never seen.

Certainly Waititi's earlier films were not the types of films the Academy would even consider viewing. Jojo Rabbit doesn't sound like the sort of film the Academy would embrace either but you never know. I haven't bothered watching the trailer, I'm sure I'll see it at the cinema in the next couple of weeks - I'm curious about this film but to be honest I really have no expectations either way.
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Re: Jojo Rabbit reviews

Post by Sabin »

OscarGuy wrote
Such grousing over a film none of us have seen. The only films this looks anything like are Wes Anderson films and while the film appears to be somewhat divisive, those who love it love it unabashedly.
But... but... this is an Oscar prediction board? Isn’t grousing the one thing we do for eight months?
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Re: Jojo Rabbit reviews

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Such grousing over a film none of us have seen. The only films this looks anything like are Wes Anderson films and while the film appears to be somewhat divisive, those who love it love it unabashedly.
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