BIOGRAPHY (from Wikipedia)

Taika David Cohen, known professionally as Taika Waititi, is a New Zealand filmmaker and actor. He was born in Raukokore in the Bay of Plenty Region of New Zealand’s North Island. His father was a Māori farmer and artist of Te Whānau-ā-Apanui, whilst his mother is a schoolteacher of European descent. Waititi’s maternal grandfather is of Russian Jewish heritage and he describes himself as a “Polynesian Jew”.

He studied theatre at Victoria University of Wellington and graduated with a Bachelor of Arts in 1997. He originally used his mother’s surname, Cohen, for his work in film and writing, while his father’s surname, Waititi, was used for his visual arts endeavours. He has used the name Waititi professionally following the success of his first short film.

Among a variety of artistic interests, Waititi began making comical short films for New Zealand’s annual 48-hour film contest. In 2005 his short film Two Cars, One Night earned him an Academy Award nomination. At the awards ceremony, he famously feigned falling asleep as the nominations were being read out.

His feature films Boy and Hunt for the Wilderpeople have each been the top-grossing New Zealand film, with the latter still holding that title as of April 2020. Waititi’s most recent directing credits include the Marvel Cinematic Universe film Thor: Ragnarok and the satirical black comedy Jojo Rabbit, the latter of which he also wrote and starred in as Adolf Hitler. Jojo Rabbit earned critical praise, winning the Academy Award for Best Adapted Screenplay.

Waititi has also worked in Television and has directed episodes of Flight of the Conchords, The Inbetweeners and What We Do in the Shadows. He directed the final episode of the first season of the Star Wars live-action series The Mandalorian, and also voiced the bounty hunter droid IG-11 in the series. In May 2020, Lucasfilm announced that Waititi had been hired to direct a Star Wars film from a script he is co-writing with Krysty Wilson-Cairns.

DIRECTOGRAPHY

2007 – Eagle vs Shark

2010 – Boy

2014 – What We Do in the Shadows (Co-directed with Jemaine Clement)

2016 – Hunt for the Wilderpeople

2017 – Thor: Ragnarok

2019 – Jojo Rabbit  

2020 – Next Goal Wins

Reviews

Poster	Movie	Year	Comments	Rating	Reviewer
	Eagle vs Shark	2007	Another quirky New Zealand comedy that is possibly a little too twee to be up there with the best the country has produced.	6	Gordon
	Boy	2010	Trademark antipodean quirk, but the story of an eleven year old poor kid and the hero-worshipping of his waster father is a little to staid. Stay to the end though, for an amusing Michael Jackson inspired dance scene!	6	Gordon
	What We Do In The Shadows	2013	Witty, inventive, gory and sometimes downright absurd, this is without doubt the greatest vampire mockumentary of all time. It may also be the only one, but that doesn't stop it being great entertainment.	7	Mat
	Hunt for the Wilderpeople	2016	Sam Neill’s best performance since Jurassic park and full of the kind of wacky humour that only the Ozzies and the Nozzies can make.	9	Gordon
	Hunt for the Wilderpeople	2016	Outrageously funny, irreverent but also touching, with fantastic scenery and a great soundtrack, it is an absolute joy to watch the constantly-evolving relationship between the two main characters. A wonderful film that is probably Waititi's best to date.	8	Mat
	Thor: Ragnarok	2017	As is the current trend with Marvel movies, Ragnarok dials the comedy up to 11 and delivers shallow but crowd pleasing entertainment. Twice the jokes and half the plot of either of the other Thor films.	5	Gordon
	Thor: Ragnarok	2017	Overdone comedy tries to paper over the cracks of the flimsy story and largely fails, but it does get better in the second half. Once again Hemsworth and Hiddlestone are left carrying the film, which otherwise features some awful characters.	6	Mat
	Jojo Rabbit	2019	Whilst not up with his best films (like Hunt for the Wilderpeople), this satire of a very touchy subject is touching and often funny.	7	Gordon
	JoJo Rabbit	2019	Making light of the Nazi oppression of the Jews might be offensive to some viewers, but amidst the absurd comedy Waititi has crafted a touching story whilst also giving the most entertaining performance of Adolf Hitler in movie history.	7	Mat

The Verdict

DIRECTORS LEAGUE

This page will be updated as we watch more Taika Waititi films and therefore his overall rating will change over time. You can see where Taika sits in the Directors League here.