Jojo Rabbit

Writer/director Taika Waititi won an Oscar for scripting this uneven comedy drama about a 10-year-old member of the Hitler Youth. It's the final months of the Second World War and young Jojo Betzler (debutant Roman Griffin Davis) is a devoted, fanatical Nazi, indoctrinated in the ways of antisemitism by both a string of buffoonish instructors and his imaginary friend: a cheery, upbeat version of the Führer (played by Waititi). When he discovers his mother (Scarlett Johansson) has been hiding a Jewish girl (Thomasin McKenzie) in their house, he's slowly forced to confront his prejudices. Adapting Christine Leunens's more serious novel Caging Skies into a sometimes whimsical satire, Waititi sets himself up a tonal challenge that he isn't always up to. Fans of his Hunt for the Wilderpeople and Thor: Ragnarok will appreciate the film-maker's offbeat humour but here he stumbles clumsily from slapstick to sincerity to moments of outright twee (including one egregious use of a CG butterfly). The film's satirical elements are largely toothless - though one scene involving Stephen Merchant as a Gestapo agent hits the mark - but Davis and a standout McKenzie inject the film with plenty of heart.