Here’s The Upbeat Trailer for Taika Waititi’s Hunt for the Wilderpeople

I have a weird admission. Few things make me feel empathy such as seeing an angry fat kid. There’s part of me that will always be that kid, unable to exert any kind of control over his own weight. An outcast, often picked on by other kids and forced into a defensive position in every social scenario. As an adult, any time I see that kid, I want to walk up to him and tell him that it gets better. It’s a lie, but maybe he’ll believe me and become a more optimistic, open-hearted person and will ultimately live a fuller life. The sad truth is that real life doesn’t work that way. The angry fat kid usually grows up to be a stunted adolescent, then an angry adult. Some of us break free from the torture of our childhood, but not all.

So I relate to Ricky Baker, the central character of Taika Waititi‘s new movie Hunt for the Wilderpeople. He’s both a bad egg and probably misunderstood. I feel this in the trailer, which you can watch below (if you haven’t skipped past my rambling already), and it was confirmed for me after reading Rob Hunter’s review from Sundance.

Ricky might be the kind of bad kid who destroys things and burns things, but he’s also a tortured soul underneath. This is where a movie like Hunt for the Wilderpeople stands to connect with someone like me. My burning empathy for the angry fat kid will lead me into its arms. It’s a bonus then, that Taika Waititi’s previous films Boy and What We Do In The Shadows were also brilliant, one with mellow drama (like melodrama, but more relaxed) and the other with effortless comedy.

The movie also stars Sam Neill. It’s basically an extension of that scene in the beginning of Jurassic Park where Doctor Grant confronts the skeptical child about the dangers posed by a velociraptor.

Consider that, then consider this: the trailer for Hunt for the Wilderpeople.

Hunt for the Wilderpeople has been acquired at Sundance by The Orchard, the distributors behind last year’s The Overnight. Hopefully it will see a release later this year, with the $2 million dollar acquisition deal stipulating that its release will be in around 100 markets in the United States.