The Waititi version

Rating: 10/10 (2 November 2019)

While the American movie world raved over the mediocre "Joker," Taika Waititi's latest slipped quietly into limited distribution to a chorus of critical yawns. We've seen SO many stories like this before, Schindler's List, The Book Thief, The Nightingale, yadayadayada. Who is this Taika again? The one who directed Thor: Ragnarok? Whateva!
Except that in case you've actually been paying attention to Waititi's career--I mean, to the superb series of pictures he's made in addition toThor Ragnarok and What We Do In The Shadows--Jojo Rabbit is a superlative addition to the growing oeuvre of arguably the finest living film director working in the English language. If you haven't seen Boy, Eagle vs. Shark, or Hunt for the Wilderpeople (not to mention the Oscar-nominated short Two Cars, One Night that Boy is based on) you may well watch Jojo Rabbit with the blase attitude of someone who can't enjoy the pleasure that only comes from recognizing and grooving on the unique point of view of a first-class auteur. I'll add that every great Jewish artist must at some point grapple with the Holocaust, and I'm happy that Taika got to do it sooner rather than later, especially when he was still young enough to play the role of Jojo's imaginary friend Hitler and thus give the two fingers up to that contemptible mass murderer who is still so shamefully revered in so many places around the world, particularly here in the U.S. Go Taika!