Heyo! It's been months since my last "Fangirl Friday" and I want to bring it back as a weekly series. So why not restart the series with one of the biggest icons: Taika Waititi?
If you don't know who Taika Waititi is, have you been living under a rock? He is an absolute icon. I know that doesn't say much, so let me just say; he is a New Zealand filmmaker. Not just any filmmaker, one of the best of our current era. The man is a visionary.
Let me start where I found out and fell in love with him. As you may or may not know, I am a casual Marvel fan. I've been following the MCU since the first Iron Man came out. However, Thor's films were some of my least favorite of the stand-alone films. I only watched Thor: Ragnarok initially because of Cate Blanchett, Karl Urban, Jeff Goldblum, Idris Elba, and Tom Hiddleston. This was the first work of Taika that I experience, and after the first viewing, I'll admit, I did not like it. It was a bit too comedic for my taste.
On my second viewing is when I really actually appreciated the film, and it is now one of my favorite films in the MCU. As you can tell from this blog, I cannot be a casual fan of a person. If I find someone whose work I enjoy, I usually go through their filmography. So when I learned that Taika not only directed it but also voiced Korg - who is an iconic side character - I wanted to watch more of his films.
Full disclaimer: I am not the biggest fan of comedy. Like my taste in comedy is weird. However, Taika's comedy is my vibe. In this post, I'm just going to go over my favorite films of his.
What We Do in the Shadows was a film on my radar for a while, but I never got a chance to watch it. I took the opportunity of going through Taika's filmography to finally watch it. I was not disappointed. It is absolutely hilarious. Obviously, I can't just give him credit since he co-directed and co-wrote it with Jemaine Clement - who is also an icon I'll probably write about on this blog at a later time. If you haven't seen What We Do in the Shadows, I highly recommend giving it a watch. It'll be worth it. Apparently, it has a show now, but I haven't watched it yet.
It's about vampires who live together, who get into mischief.
Now, my favorite of his films that I've seen so far is Jojo Rabbit. Yes, the above photo is Taika dressed as Adolf Hitler. Before you complain, the film is a dark comedy about a young Hitler Youth boy named Jojo, whose imaginary friend is Hitler. I promise you; it is much funnier than it sounds. I just suck at trying to sell movies to people. It stars Scarlett Johansson, Rebel Wilson, Sam Rockwell, Stephen Merchant, and Alfie Allen. The film won a well deserved Oscar for Best Adapted Screenplay. It was nominated for five other Oscars, which it should have won, but I still think the 2020 Oscars was a farce. At least Taika got the Oscar he deserved.
The last film of Taika's I'll write about in this post is Hunt for the Wilderpeople. It is about a child in the foster system who gets taken in by a couple, but then a few unfortunate events happen and he goes on an adventure into the wilderness of New Zealand. This film I found accidentally. I was looking for something to watch on Hulu and I recognized the star, Julian Dennison, as the kid from Deadpool 2 plus I also saw Sam Neill was on the cast list so I figured why not? Based on the vibe and the cameo of Taika, I knew it was a Taika film. It is a very heartwarming film and another one I recommend.
Taika Waititi has other films, and I'm hoping he will continue this streak in the future. Everything I've seen that he's written or directed has been a home run. I am someone who turns to film for a lot of my inspiration, and I hope to be as good a writer as Taika is.
He has become one of my heroes.
I wanted to write about him and give him the first Fangirl Friday back because he is an inspiration, a muse, and someone that I hope to work with in the future. Thank you, Taika, for the entertainment you have given to the world. You made this pandemic, that much more tolerable for me and my family. Hell, you made me actually look forward to the next Thor film. You truly are one of the greatest visionaries of our time, and I feel blessed to even exist at the same time as you so I can witness your art. I am unworthy.
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