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 eagle vs shark interview
 to access audio and video on collective you need real player.Quirkysomething. Photographer, musician and filmmaker Taika Cohen is the rising star of New Zealand film. His short film, Two Cars, One Night, was nominated for an Academy Award. His feature film debut has already wowed Sundance as he sets about proving himself to be to 2007 what Miranda July was to 2006. Eagle vs Shark is a quirky episodic affair, so I don't know why I was surprised to find Cohen, who also goes by the name Taiki Waititi, lying on the sofa and saying he was far too wasted to sit up and talk. He says of his film, "I never thought that this film would do anything more than play at a couple of festivals to a small audience, but I'd forgotten about the Oscar thing and the attention it generates." He seems almost embarrassed by the success of Eagle vs Shark, but what Cohen tactfully fails to acknowledge is that his movie is a joyous affair that mixes live action with animation and the sounds of The Stone Roses. Apart from the great music, what sets this movie apart is how unusual for a romantic comedy its lead characters are. 'Eagle' is a nasty guy named Jarrod (Jermaine Clement). He's self-obsessed, obnoxious, and is desperate to beat up the school bully who made his life a misery. For some reason Lily (Loren Horsley), the ‘Shark' who is anything but sharp-toothed, is absolutely obsessed with him. We meet her as she loses her job at a burger store and then makes a hapless attempt to woo Jarrod. The characters seem like they've been designed in the quirky factory, but Cohen, when he finally rises from his slumber, insists, "Loren's character is pretty much her as a teenager but in a 28 or 29-year-old body. Jarrod's character is a mix of a lot of guy traits but there is a lot of me in their as well, maybe a younger me. All the characters are just essentially the actors playing younger, awkward teenager versions of themselves."  The action is punctuated with brilliant animation work from Cohen, who gets to show how multi-talented he is. He adds, "I've always loved animation and wanted it to be in a film from the start. For me, having animation in a live action film does take you back to your childhood. It communicates with you in a way that dialogue can't. Also, stop-motion is the most human art-form you can get. You cannot make it without a human involved, which is why when you watch it you can feel someone's hand on it." In Eagle vs Shark the hand happens to be the one at the end of the horizontal Cohen's arm.
Kaleem Aftab
Eagle vs Shark is out now on selected release.
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