The Film and Literature group's choice for May.

In April we watched Hunt for the Wilderpeople, filmed in New Zealand. 
Genre: Adventure, Drama, Comedy – an element of each
Plot: A manhunt is ordered for a rebellious kid and his foster uncle who go missing in the wild New Zealand bush.
Characters: Ricky (Julian Dennison), Hec (Sam Neill), Paula (Rachel House) Social Worker and Bella (Rima Te Wiata), Hec’s wife.
Location: Set in the North Island of New Zealand.
Other: While this is about the hunt for Ricky and Hec, the underlying theme is the developing relationship between the two and how they dealt with Bella’s death.  There was a cameo appearance by the Director, Taika Waititi, as the minister who conducted the service for Bella’s funeral.
Review: This film would appeal to all ages.  The adventure would appeal to younger people, and older people would enjoy the relationships, humour, and references (overt and subtle) to other movies.  For example, the car chase which has elements of Thelma and Louise.   One of the key characters, Paula, was a standout performance – she acted as an over the top Social Worker, well portrayed as a totally unlikable character.  In many ways this was a drama, with many humorous scenes.  In parts, it could make you cry, but mainly it made us laugh.  Everyone agreed that this movie rated as 5 out of 5.  We could not see any real weaknesses – the key characters, scenery of New Zealand and music were all excellent.
 
Our May session is on 10 May.  We plan to watch the movie Love and Friendship, starring Kate Beckinsale, Chloë Sevigny, Xavier Samuel, based on a Jane Austen book.  To allow time to discuss the movie, we start the movies sharply at 1:00pm.

With all the movies we watch we can look at them as literature – literature in a different medium, that of film.  This helps to focus the discussion, covering ideas around genre, characters, plot, but also adding the aspects that relate to film, such as cinemascope, music and atmosphere.