Boy it’s popular

The hit film Boy, directed by Taika Waititi, is reviewed by Hao Ying for the Chinese publication Global Times who writes that the “laughs are frequent and uncontrived”. The film, which has now earned $8.4 million at the box office since its release in March, rocketing it to No. 3 spot of the all-time top New Zealand films in real terms, is compared to Woody Allen’s best work. Ying continues: “Boy uses humour to touch on subjects that would otherwise be too painful to bear, such as the abandonment of children by their caretakers, and the ways patterns of abuse are passed from generation to generation.” Waititi is currently in Hollywood, playing the sidekick Thomas Kalmaku in the upcoming Green Lantern movie. Boy, alongside other local films — Second-Hand Wedding, Home by Christmas and I am not Harry Jenson — is screening as part of the 21 New Zealand Film Festival in China until June 13.