Boy (2010)

Comedy, Drama

Director: Taika Waititi
Writer: Taika Waititi
Starring: Taika Waititi, James Rolleston, Te Aho Eketone-Whitu, Moerangi Tihore

The year is 1984, and on the rural East Coast of New Zealand, "Thriller" is changing kids' lives. Inspired by the Oscar-nominated Two Cars, One Night, Boy is the hilarious and heartfelt coming-of-age tale about heroes, magic and Michael Jackson.

Boy is a dreamer who loves Michael Jackson. He lives with his brother Rocky, a tribe of deserted cousins and his Nan. Boy's other hero, his father, Alamein, is the subject of Boy's fantasies, and he imagines him as a deep sea diver, war hero and a close relation of Michael Jackson (he can even dance like him). In reality he's "in the can for robbery". When Alamein returns home after 7 years away, Boy is forced to confront the man he thought he remembered, find his own potential and learn to get along without the hero he had been hoping for.

Plot summary from IMDb: It's 1984. Here we meet Boy, an 11-year-old who lives on a farm with his gran, a goat, and his younger brother, Rocky (who thinks he has magic powers). Shortly after Gran leaves for a week, Boy's father, Alamein, appears out of the blue. Having imagined a heroic version of his father during his absence, Boy comes face to face with the real version-an incompetent hoodlum who has returned to find a bag of money he buried years before. This is where the goat enters.

Awards: 13 wins & 9 nominations.
Runtime: 87 min
Not R