Lily: How did you find out where I live?
Jarrod: I got my flatmate to ring up your work. Tell them it was an emergency. You probably shouldn't go in there, they think you're dead

SO how many independent film comedies from New Zealand have you seen and how many of them have been any good? Exactly. In fact how many NZ films have you seen apart from Once Were Warriors? The Lord of the Rings trilogy doesn't count. Well the Eagle and the Shark is one you should see and very funny too. It's geeky in the that traditional Napoleon Dynamite sort of way, the laughs subtle and then not so subtle, a good giggle on offer at all those oddball characters from all the other movies in this genre you have seen.

Lily: I have two things to say. One: I am leaving tomorrow on a bus. Two: that could change.

-The Cast-

Loren Horsley ... Lily
Jemaine Clement ... Jarrod
Joel Tobeck ... Damon
Brian Sergent ... Jonah
Craig Hall ... Doug Davis
Rachel House ... Nancy
Morag Hills ... Vinny
Bernard Stewart ... Zane
Taika Cohen ... Gordon
David Fane ... Eric Elisi
Cohen Holloway ... Mason
Gentiane Lupi ... Tracy

-The Plot-

Most NZ films usually exploit its beautiful baron lands or the Maori tensions but here it's an urban tale of rural town family life and the trail and tribulations of its number one plonker. The plonker in question is greasy haired manic depressive computer games geek Jarrod (Jemaine Clement), who works in an electrical store, his loner friends cut from similar cloth. But he has a secret admirer, gauche fast-food attendant Lily (Loren Horsley), who makes sure she serves him when he comes in at 12 O'clock dead every workday lunch time for his picky burger combination, but Jarrod oblivious to her affections. But when he attempts to invite another girl from the burger joint to his party its Lily who ends up there.

Its fancy dress at his flat and Jarrod is hosting his annual computer game challenge, the 'Fight Man' defending champion no less, dressed as an Eagle. But he has tough competition from a surprise contestant, Lily, dressed as a Shark, of course, a dab hand at Fight Man 11. This impresses Jarrod, suddenly noticing her, romance in the air. They have a lot in common and Lily has finally got her man, the passion consumed that night on his X-Men duvet. But there's complications, Jarrod on a quest of his own, his mission to seek and destroy his old school bully (Cohen Holloway), sending him a letter of his intention to travel up state to lay down a challenge. But the bullying was a long time ago and as he; Lily and designating driver Doug (Craig Hall) set off up north to stay with Jarrod's brother to prepare for combat his schoolboy bully who wrecked his life may not be as fearsome as he once was. But can lily and Jarrod's passion survive this road trip of emotions?

-The Conclusion-

As far as Indies go this is the genuine article, a funny little movie made with unknowns for little money and an eccentric director going for it. Too many of the American independent low budgets are anything but, glossy mid-budget efforts full of prominent TV actors, trying way too hard to be Indies, Juno a ghastly example of. Although the excellent Little Miss Sunshine was classed as an Indie it was quite clear the cast was too top notch for a small budget. The Eagle V the Shark is the real deal, cheap and cheerful and brilliantly written, Maori director Tankai Waititi as mad as a bag of snakes and that's allowed to come through in his baby.

There are no belly laughs but you do smirk and giggle all the way through, silly clever observational humour the order of the day. As with Napoleon Dynamite, 'geek' is always funny when done well and this is no exception. I believe the cast are quite well known on cable TV in the quirky sitcom 'Flight of the Condor', that style and quirkiness from this enjoyable film presumably reflected in that. I suspect I will be taking a look at that box-set very soon.

Jemaine Clement is hilarious in the lead as Jarrod, that guy we all know who has the full mullet and the chunky key fob on his belt. I'm not as convinced with Loren Horsley as Lily, that cliché flaky petite girl that always gets cast in these movies not quite right here. She's way to classically beautiful as an actress to be near a guy like Jarrod on screen and her poise comes through rather too much. But that aside the comic performances are good and you will laugh if you go for this type of movie, that wonderful New Zealand accent adding further warmth and charisma to the piece. A groovy soundtrack rounds of some solid film making on what I call a low budget.

= = = = = = Special Features = = = = = = =

-Audio Commentary-

Hidden in the set up director Taiki Waititi, a little bit of a strange chap, talks about his movie here, entertaining to say the least.

-Directors Intro-

Waititi introduces the film in smoking jacket and slippers.

-The Mouse Wheel-

In the film a playground for kids has one of those big wheels Hamsters run in, the cast messing around in one here.

-Cast, crew and directors chat-

Good stuff from the whacky team.

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Man on phone: D'you want to leave a message?
Jarrod in call box: Tell him that justice is waiting for him!!
Man on phone: OK Justin. Thank you. Bye.
[hangs up]
Jarrod: No, justice. Justice!

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Imdb.com scores it 6.8 out of 10.0 (6,566 votes)
RuN-TiMe 88 minutes
Five films for £5 deal at Blockbusters.co.uk
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Summary: Good solid indie film