-
Recent releases:
- That They May Face the Rising Sun
- Jericho Ridge
- Civil War
- Mothers' Instinct
- Sweet East, The
- Ghost Busters: Frozen Empire
- Immaculate
- Roaring Twenties, The (reissue)
- Soul
- Dune: part two
- American Star
- Dune: Part 1 (reissue)
- Jerry & Marge Go Large
- Argylle
- Forever Young
- Jackdaw
- All of Us Strangers
- Holdovers, The
- Mean Girls
- Poor Things
Jojo Rabbit
Stars: Roman Griffin Davis, Scarlett Johansson, Sam Rockwell, Thomasin McKenzie, Taika Waititi, Archie Yates, Rebel Wilson, Stephen Merchant, Alfie Allen
Director: Taika Waititi
After an hour of politically incorrect fun, Waititi's film takes on a much darker hue. Tragedy overcomes comedy in the most moving of ways.
Jojo Betzler (Griffin Davis) is a 10-year-old boy in Germany towards the end of WW2. Unable to kill a rabbit - thus his nickname - his faltering career in the Hitler Youth movement comes to an abrupt end when he blows himself up after a grenade he's thrown rebounds from a tree.
Facially scarred, and now with a gammy leg, Jojo consoles himself in conversations with his imaginary friend Adolf Hitler (played by the director) - rather like Woody Allen with 'Humphrey Bogart' in Play It Again, Sam
First-time actor Griffin Davis - nominated for a Golden Globe - is brilliant as Jojo, and New Zealander McKenzie is also solid as the fugitive girl whose life becomes involved with his. They help to ensure that this extraordinarily original film is one that succeeds on all levels, sidesplitting one moment and heartbreaking the next.
Available digitally 27 April and released to DVD on 11 May.
David Quinlan
Czech Republic/USA/New Zealand 2019. UK Distributor: 20th Century Fox (Fox Searchlight). Colour by Company 3.
103 minutes. Widescreen. UK certificate: 12.
Guidance ratings (out of 3): Sex/nudity 0, Violence/Horror 2, Drugs 0, Swearing 1.
Review date: 23 Apr 2020