Wednesday, 28 August 2024 12:18

Bookworm

bookworm

BOOKWORM

 

New Zealand, 2024, 102 minutes, Colour.

Elijah Wood, Nell Fisher, Michael Smiley, Vanessa Stacy.

Directed by Ant Timpson.

 

A family story from New Zealand, but not quite the story we might have expected. It follows soon after the release of that fine New Zealand film about three children climbing Mount Taranaki, The Mountain.

This time we are on the South Island, in the Canterbury Plains. The bookworm of the title is an 11-year-old girl, Mildred. She is a reader, a thinker, precocious for her age – and not immediately sympathetic for the audience (this reviewer may be open to correction by young girls of Mildred’s age). She is supportive of her mother who has had addiction problems in the past. No sign at all of a father.

The opening credits indicate a government statement that there are no animals in New Zealand who pose a threat to human life. Which means then that the premise of this story moves us into fantasy and imagination, a black panther haunting the mountains above the Canterbury Plains. Mildred has great ambitions to find the panther, filmed the panther on her phone, submit it the authorities who have been offering a substantial reward, and devoting the proceeds to her mother’s health.

An incident with a toaster and electric shock confines her mother to hospital after she had promised to take Mildred camping. Then, an odd -looking man arrives, a professional magician, trying out some tricks on only interested then sceptical Mildred, and the revelation that he is Mildred’s father, a chance encounter with her mother in Las Vegas years earlier.

We know that there will be a bonding between father and daughter eventually, despite the sometimes supercilious ignoring of her father and criticism of him by Mildred, and his bewilderment as he tries to understand her. And he agrees to go camping with her, never having done so in his life, climbing steep mountains, pitching tents, making fires…

There are some further adventures in some spectacularly photographed scenery, especially when the panther materialises. And there are some rather comic-book villains, an odd couple but get their comeuppance. And, then, the action items considerably: the panther, cliffs, a rope bridge… And an amusing hospital sequence

Elijah Wood, returning to New Zealand after his Frodo days, is the magician. Nell Fisher is Mildred.

  1. The title, the nickname for Mildred? Her reading, her knowledge, her room, posters and photos, her imagination? For an 11-year-old?
  2. A New Zealand film, New Zealand story, Canterbury, the story of a panther in the forest (and the prologue to the film with the government disclaiming any animal who would attack humans)? Mildred, her quest, the money, her cause?
  3. The New Zealand landscapes, the South Island, the Canterbury Plains, the mountains and forests? The musical score?
  4. Mildred, her age, her mother, background of addiction, the interaction of mother and daughter? Her education, reading, knowledge, applications? The absent father?
  5. Her mother, the promise of camping, her mother’s collapse, the toaster and the shock?
  6. The arrival of her father, American, the background of the one night stand, no commitment to his daughter, his being a magician, the television shows, and his being cancelled? Age, appearance, his magic tricks? The initial encounter with Mildred, her disinterested reaction, his tricks, her scepticism and explanations? The card, picking, her denials, the card on the window? The initial hostilities? Audiences expecting him to break down and to discover how this would happen?
  7. Going camping, the gear, the trek, the scaling of the mountain, the effect on Strawn, on Mildred, the tense, the discussions, the fire, his magic? Seeing the panther, Mildred and her filming, the tension, its departure? Her having the film?
  8. The further encounters, the couple, their story, jovial, the menace, the woman with Mildred, the man with Strawn, kidnap, robbery, their going on their way, Mildred and direction accusations against Strawn, the loss of the camera?
  9. The continued journey, coming across the couple, the strategies to get everything back, stealing issues, the prickles in the feet, getting away? The film lost – and the credibility of the couple using the film, the battery?
  10. The Panther, the approach, the bridge, getting across the bridge, the crash, falling?
  11. Reconciliation between father and daughter, some mutual understanding, the irony of their all being in the hospital ward together?
  12. Having the recording of the Panther, the reward, the media headlines? The future for the family?
More in this category: « Stowaway/ 2021 Take My Hand »