Goes from heartwarming to absolutely dread in an instant

Rating: Null/10 (29 January 2020)

Jojo Rabbit must not have been an easy movie to sell. A movie featuring a Hitler youth boy in the last days of World War Two, with an actual Adolf Hitler as his imaginary friend. Sure, it's a satire, obviously, but even still... how do you get stuff like this green-lit?
Well, being Taika Waititi, one of the most unorthodox directors currently working, must have helped. Especially when he himself wanted to play the role of Hitler. And I must say, the film works rather well. It's able to make you laugh big time, while also telling a heart-wrenching story about the struggle of Jews and those wanting to help them during the Third Reich. To a certain point, but let's but that aside for a moment.
Because I want to praise the actors. Thomasin McKenzie as Elsa, the Jewish girl, does a great job as someone terrified out of her soul, but unwilling to show it, while Roman Griffin Davis shines as Jojo himself. I especially enjoy how clearly he changes throughout the course of the film, learning to see the world for what it is and not what he wants it to be. But the MVP award for this movie has to go to Scarlett Johansson as Jojo's mother. What a character! Full of lust and zest for life, as well as smiling maturity. Every scene she's in, especially when she's just talking to Jojo, I could watch forever.
All that being said, I did find myself struggling with the film when it came to mood swings. Whenever the film wants to be funny, it's funny enough. Whenever it wants to crush your soul under an iron boot, it does just that. It's only that these two aspects of the film have a hard time meeting. I found myself choking up because of a certain scene and then I'm expected to chuckle in the next scene.
And I'm not sure how you would go about fixing that. Perhaps if the humour had been even more absurd than it is? There are a few scene that go way over the line to absurdity, like Hitler eating a boiled unicorn head, but most of the time the humour is rather grim and/or dry. Then again, had the humour been more absurd, it might have cut tension from the truly dark scenes.
It's a movie I appreciated, but I'm not sure I enjoyed it. Or more accurately, I enjoyed every single scene on its own, but not necessarily together. Make of that what you will.