Boy: False Promises to Coming of Age

Boy feels so real it’s as though we’re in Boy’s New Zealand Maori village with him. Each one of the characters is so believable, it’s amazing that none of the kids were actors before this film. (And it’s even more remarkable that James Rolleston was cast as Boy just three days before shooting began, which is an extraordinary testament to both his acting and Taika Waititi’s directing.)

Michael Jackson-loving Boy lives with his grandmother, brother, and four cousins in a house in a remote area near the New Zealand coast. When Boy’s grandmother has to leave for a few days to attend a funeral, Boy, as the oldest (11), fills in, making meals (sometimes just bowls of torn up bread, milk, and sugar) and getting everyone to bed. (In a Q&A with Waititi, he revealed that he grew up in the actual house and town used in the film. He also mentioned that in regard to his upbringing in that area, it was a very communal way of life – i.e., kids taking care of kids and families sharing food with whomever needed it.)

Shortly after his grandmother leaves, Boy’s estranged, over-the-top father, Alamein (Taika Waititi), arrives. Boy has idolized his father for years and assumes he has been away on a series of adventures – including a heroic stint in the war when he wasn’t busy being a samurai – and Alamein never corrects Boy from believing any of these illusions. In actuality, Alamein has been behind bars for robbery.

Boy’s dad brings two sidekicks home with him, members of his “Crazy Horses” gang (which is more comical than threatening), and proves to be more child-like than the actual kids in the film. Yet it is this juvenile charm that gets us to fall in love with him.

The movie takes place in 1984 and begins with a quote from E.T.: "You could be happy here. We could grow up together."This embodies the story perfectly, as both men need to mature, and it also symbolizes Boy yearning to have his father in his life for more than just a few days.

While Boy is enthusiastic about his dad’s return (doing anything to please him, not limited to picking marijuana or digging up the yard for money Alamein buried long ago), his younger brother, Rocky (Te Aho Eketone-Whitu), is more hesitant. A loner to Boy’s extroverted nature, Rocky prefers spending time at the cemetery where their mother is buried, sketching pictures while sitting next to her tombstone (which is decorated with colorful kids’ drawings). Rocky also he feels he has superpowers; all he has to do is imagine something for it to happen. He has mixed feelings about his powers – he feels he killed his mother from them (she died in childbirth) – yet they work very well as a coping mechanism even if the powers sometimes fail him.

Waititi does a wonderful job of blending drama with absurdity and humor. We want to cry one moment, like when Boy’s father yells at him in front of all his friends for wearing his gangster jacket without asking, yet we find ourselves laughing the next when Boy tries to take his father’s inappropriate dating advice and use it on a classmate.

To Boy, there is nothing his father cannot do. Several times, I wanted to pull Boy aside and tell him not to fall for his father’s tall tales. However, as the story continues, we see Boy come-of-age as he goes from worshipping his father to resenting his false promises, a very relatable theme for all of us viewers.

The most intriguing aspect of the story is the way in which each character deals with death, loss, and mourning over Boy’s mother: Boy’s obsession with his father, Rocky’s superpowers, and Alamein’s constant overcompensating via his fake, built-up life. 

By the time the film ends, I couldn’t believe it was over; I didn’t want Boy to leave me yet. Hopefully, you will feel the same way. Though after seeing Boy’s character’s growth, I was confident he would be okay.

To date, “Boy”is the largest-grossing film to hail from New Zealand. It has won several film festival awards, the script was part of the Sundance Institute’s Screenwriters Lab, and it recently received U.S. distribution.