TIFF People's Choice has Some Amazing Moments but Suffers a bit from Awkward Tone Shifts

Rating: 7/10 (15 February 2020)

At times I enjoyed the comedic moments, and also the times when the movie took itself seriously. However, the two sides of the movie, despite being good in themselves, never really jell for me.
With the opening act introducing comedic moments such as a Nazi Boy Scout being stabbed in the thigh by an errant throwing-knife, the movie had the foundations of a great over-the-top comedy. However, the movie also introduces moments of earnestness that completely shift the movie, at certain times, to a solely sincere tone.
With the introduction of Scarlett Johansson's character as a strong-willed but caring mother, there are some truly heart-warming moments. After she and Jojo have a fight, she caricatures his father and tells Jojo how much he means to her and they embrace in dance. These moments were truly charming, but seemed far displaced with the kind of humor established in the first act.
The eventually fate of Johansson's character did not still very well with me. While she and Jojo have a lovely day out together biking and walking by the river, there is a shot which frames Jojo looking up at her standing on the ledge, with only her legs and shoes in frame. This precious moment is called back to at the reveal of her death, as when Jojo finds her hanging in public, they are positioned the same way in the frame.
While I know how powerfully this captures the sudden tragedies faced by the people affected by Nazi Germany, with the start of the movies being so humorous, some of these serious moments felt a little off.
Another moment that bothered me was the final battle scene. Rockwell finally dons his beautifully-feathered armor and Rebel Wilson's character sends children running into the battlefield with grenades strapped to themselves. Once again it was staged as some amazingly outrageous humor, but with Jojo despairing about the massacre around him along with the sorrowful score, the humor felt way out of place.
Even so, the movie ends on a high point with a moment between Jojo and the girl he had been hiding. The two, finally standing out in the streets, having just been liberated from Nazi rule, dance as pure as possible in such a wholesome ending to the movie.
At times I really like this movie and I want to love it. There are some truly charming, heart-warming moments and at times some great humor. However, its inconsistent tone sometimes led to an awkward combination of these great, stand-alone moments.