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#Post#: 9--------------------------------------------------
Two Cars, One Night (2003)
By: Penguin022 Date: January 5, 2018, 11:58 pm
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This short is excellent, and definitely deserved the Oscar nom.
I can't believe the website still exists...
HTML http://www.twocarsonenight.com/
The film itself:
HTML https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gyz6p97McS8
#Post#: 16--------------------------------------------------
Re: Two Cars, One Night
By: Sylwia Date: January 6, 2018, 12:58 pm
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and here's the infamous snooze. ;D Taika's at 1m42s
HTML https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_CGR0T9-Qho&t=102s
The director who swooped the Award from Taika was Andrea Arnold.
Have you seen Fish Tank or Red Road? Pretty heavy stuff.
#Post#: 30--------------------------------------------------
Re: Two Cars, One Night (2003)
By: Penguin022 Date: January 6, 2018, 3:37 pm
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I haven't seen Fish Tank or Red Road, but I had heard of
Arnold's work, as she seems to be a very interesting voice in
the film community, although she hasn't exactly hit the
mainstream yet.
#Post#: 31--------------------------------------------------
Re: Two Cars, One Night (2003)
By: Sylwia Date: January 6, 2018, 3:48 pm
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[quote author=Penguin022 link=topic=9.msg30#msg30
date=1515274646]
although she hasn't exactly hit the mainstream yet.
[/quote]
I don't think she's going to film a superhero movie ;D
#Post#: 34--------------------------------------------------
Re: Two Cars, One Night (2003)
By: Penguin022 Date: January 6, 2018, 5:01 pm
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I doubt she'll even make something that is as successful at the
box office as Wilderpeople.
#Post#: 65--------------------------------------------------
Re: Two Cars, One Night (2003)
By: Sylwia Date: January 9, 2018, 2:21 pm
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If you'd like to watch the film with Taika's commentary over it,
here's the audio:
HTML https://soundcloud.com/world-of-taika/two-cars-one-night-commentary
Interview with Taika and Ainsley, when the short was nominated
to the Academy Award
HTML https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gqUWbiQB6H8
#Post#: 66--------------------------------------------------
Re: Two Cars, One Night (2003)
By: Sylwia Date: January 9, 2018, 2:23 pm
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[img width=500]
HTML https://imgur.com/HhQ4rUk.jpg[/img]
[img width=500]
HTML https://imgur.com/n49e5pG.jpg[/img]
[img width=500]
HTML https://imgur.com/Zc9ojm5.jpg[/img]
[img width=500]
HTML https://imgur.com/yOTMQrK.jpg[/img]
#Post#: 67--------------------------------------------------
Re: Two Cars, One Night (2003)
By: Sylwia Date: January 9, 2018, 2:28 pm
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Storyboards
HTML https://imgur.com/fke8Ygx.jpg
HTML https://imgur.com/Sd6zRfX.jpg
HTML https://imgur.com/l2ryI3E.jpg
HTML https://imgur.com/BbvZpXj.jpg
#Post#: 68--------------------------------------------------
Re: Two Cars, One Night (2003)
By: Sylwia Date: January 9, 2018, 2:59 pm
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An article / interview that discusses this movie and Taika in
general. The page is gone with the interview but the article was
saved thanks to FOTCmb.net
HTML http://inlandscenic.net/writing/taika-waititi-staple-interview/
[quote]Taika Waititi
Text by Steve Kerr
Originally published in Staple, 2005
No sentence-long synopsis can do justice to the way in which
Taika Waititi’s short film Two Cars, One Night succeeds in
capturing in a nuanced, honest, accurate way a passing moment of
childhood. “Romeo and his brother, Ed, sit in the car waiting
for their parents to come out of the pub.” Sound like a movie
where nothing happens? It isn’t.
Like the kids in his film, Waititi manages to create something
profound and fun out of an apparently banal situation. At one
level, the film works as an exploration of the way kids naïvely
ape adult modes of communication. Beneath the surface, though,
its grainy dark cinematography and CYFS-scare scenario create an
impending sense of doom that never resolves. It’s simple,
elegant and perfect.
The film won three awards at the 2003 New Zealand Film Awards,
including an award for best performance in a short film for nine
year old leading man Rangi Ngamoki (who had been plucked from
the local kura kaupapa and given a crash course in acting by
Nancy Brunning) and one for Waititi himself for best script.
Since then, the film has excelled internationally, winning best
short film in the Panorama section of the Berlin Film Festival
and best drama at the Aspen Shortsfest. Technically, it’s an
2005 Oscar possibility.
I’ve come up to Waititi’s shared office to talk to Taika the
film maker. But the guy is a bundle of energy, excitement and
ideas, a hard man to pigeonhole. You can’t separate the film
maker from the rest of the whole entertaining, inspirational
package.
Over the course of our conversation, we talk film and theatre,
but also cover the whole gamut of his activities: his recent win
of the Wellington 48 Hour Film Festival with the smart,
hilarious, lo-fi Heinous Crime; his recent triumph of devising
and performing a solo show (Taika’s Incredible Show) which sold
out in Wellington and Auckland; ideas for a Running Man-esque TV
game show; vague plans to design a fashion range (“I’m so into
it. Just once in my life to have a fashion show of my own…”);
idle thoughts on embarking on a career in music, or producing a
choreographic work, the list goes on… As we speak, he’s buzzing
because he’s just finished a series of old skool (old School
Journal, in fact) style drawings for a book of short stories by
his friend Jo Randerson to be published by VUP. To paraphrase
Mike D, this man has a million ideas he ain’t even rocked yet.
But the thing that makes Waititi truly outstanding is not so
much that he does all this stuff, but that he does it so well.
Waititi’s been lurking on the Wellington theatre and comedy
scene for years, as half of the Humourbeasts (with Jermaine
Clement) and the man behind such memorable joints as Little Che
and, more recently The Untold Tales of Maui and Taika’s
Incredible Show. You may know him better as Taika Cohen, the
name he uses for acting, writing and other theatre work. Waititi
is the surname he uses for visual arts, fashion design and film.
And lately, it’s been the success of his first ‘proper’ short
film that has been winning him fame and fortune.
In January, Two Cars took Waititi to snowy Park City, Utah to
attend the prestigious Sundance Festival. While Sundance is no
doubt a schmoozefest par excellence, he took it all in his
stride – “There were a few of us [New Zealanders] there hanging
out, me and Chris Graham and Popo Lilo. For me it was a chance
to relax, I had no feature ideas I was trying to plug, so I just
took the opportunity to get away.” Happily, he also discovered
that despite its uniquely kiwi language and setting, the film
translated successfully to an international context: “The
response was really good. It was important for me to find out
what the audience would think of it, the dialogue is so
specific.
Interestingly, the German audience could understand the kids and
laughed a lot more. I think the Americans were just thinking,
‘poor kids’.” In our post-PC world, you surely do have to get
past the child neglect aspect before you can relax and enjoy the
film, but for Waititi that was partly the point – “I was looking
for a subconscious sense of foreboding but covering it over with
some comic dialogue. Comedy always comes out of a serious
situation you’ve always got to have the pain factor. If Daffy
Duck wasn’t in pain after being smashed in the face with a
frying pan, it wouldn’t be as funny.”
Speaking of serious situations, Waititi’s next film, Tama Tu,
concerns a group of six young Maori Battalion soldiers amidst
the rubble of a bombed-out house, waiting for the cover of night
to escape back to their unit. “It’s just about young Maori men
hanging out. Kidding around, passing time, getting bored, being
teenagers. It’s got the same feel as Two Cars, but it’s
definitely a different film. I’m really pleased with it.”
With the film not yet in the can, it’s already set to screen at
festivals in LA and DC at the end of the year. At seventeen
minutes long, and shot in colour, is Tama Tu the next step
towards a full length film? Waititi is cautious: “I’ve had some
much success with Two Cars now I feel like I’ll never better it.
I look it at something that’s different, not trying to top it.
I’m not wanting to leap into a feature.” Nevertheless, a feature
film lurks somewhere on the horizon. “I’m writing [one] at the
moment. It’s based around a family in a small Maori community
and they’re all a bunch of complete losers. I think the story
will be hard to grasp at the moment it’s leaving me feeling a
little lost.” The plan is to shoot it and have it released next
year. This man don’t mess around.
So, exactly how does one get to be a prolific writer, director,
actor, artist, photographer, aspiring fashion designer? Where
does it all come from? Waititi is of Te Whanau-A-Apanui descent
and grew up in Waihau Bay, near Te Kaha (where Two Cars was
shot) in the eastern Bay of Plenty. “I know the pub really well.
Waihau Bay is a tiny little fishing village. I grew up there
then came down and lived in Wellington. I went to college here,
going back and forwards to the coast.”
In Wellington, he experienced the archetypal eighties childhood,
“I spent all my time watching TV and going to building sites and
watching movies. It was the best time. I was a space invader
freak.” Pretty typical healthy childhood then, riding round on
his HMX 500 (with back brakes), listening to Prince and Falco,
spending pocket money on Defender (“The best game of last
century”) and Double Dragon. Something of an eighties childhood
influence pervades a lot of his work – witness the beautifully
rendered felt tip pen poster for Taika’s Incredible Show, and
his fetish for the look of old video footage – “VHS is cool, it
'ucks up the picture… You’ve got to go back to the basic shii,
it looks incredible.”
From college, Waititi went to Victoria University, fell in with
a good crowd, and from there his career in theatre took off.
Before he got behind the camera, Waititi had quite a career
going in front of it, with roles in Scarfies, Snakeskin, The
Strip among other things.
His talent as an actor has provided him with a crucial source of
income over the years. “I appreciate ads for that. I hate them
with all my heart but if it means I don’t have to do more menial
stuff to get by then I’ll do it. It’s better than washing
dishes.” He’s now doing less and less acting work. “I’m moving
away from it. Partly by choice and partly cos there’s a lack of
challenging good roles out there. That’s a bummer, a lot of the
roles [in New Zealand] don’t challenge actors. I moved into
directing because I was sick of hanging out waiting to go on and
taking orders and not doing my own creative stuff.”
In amongst it all, he has found the time to travel, and live in
Berlin for a time. “I spent a lot of time travelling around an
bitching about New Zealand being so small and restrictive, then
I came back home and sat around and decided that New Zealand’s
actually pretty 'ucking cool. I’ve got a good network of artist
friends, musicians, writers, film makers. I’ve always got these
people to communicate with, discuss ideas with and get help. And
Wellington’s the best place in the country, it’s the art capital
of New Zealand”, he says with a hint of irony, nodding across
Cable Street to Te Papa. Maybe some clichés are true, even
officially sanctioned ones…
Given his upbringing, and the Maori content of a lot of his work
(Tama Tu, Two Cars, Untold Tales), I was interested by his
comment in a Listener story earlier this year about not wanting
to be seen as a Maori artist – so I ask him to elaborate. “It
wasn’t that I don’t ever want to be thought of like that, but I
don’t like the way that it’s a label. It places expectations on
your work. I think whether a person is Maori or not is beside
the point in the real issue of art. No-one ever says ‘he’s a
Pakeha artist’… People mistake that for me not being proud of
being a Maori which is really stupid. Every part of what I
accomplish I have to attribute to being Maori, because I am.
It’s part of my childhood and who I am now. Every experience you
have will some how come with you in your life and have a bearing
on your future. [Being Maori] has benefited me in the kind of
stories I want to tell.”
And it seems film is the ideal medium for Waititi to bring
together all his skills and tell those stories. “At the moment,
film is the centre of everything, cos I’m doing a lot of writing
with it as well, and you’re always thinking visually. Most stuff
starts off with a visual image, then you’ve got to fit it into a
story. And music as well – I listen to music and it triggers a
scene.”
As far as film heroes go, Waititi is an arthouse geek and proud.
“I’m influenced a lot by different directors – the
non-mainstream directors are the ones are who I appreciate the
most, cos they’re doing different shii. My favourite New Zealand
director would be Florian Habicht [Kaikohe Demolition], he’s on
to it. And I can’t wait to see In My Father’s Den… Lars von
Trier is definitely one of the important film makers at the
moment. He uses mainstream people, sucks them into his weird
world and spits them out, without leaving Denmark. I really love
the whole Dogma 95 manifesto. I like restrictions, they make you
fight to find a solution. And I like that the camera moves
around the action, which isn’t normal in most film where actors
have to be on a mark… I’m into a lot of Asian cinema in
particular Wong Kar Wai he’s just incredible. I’m quite
interested in blending theatre and film a bit, in letting scenes
play out with out being too choppy, so you get a real feel of
time and space and place.”
All of which begs one final question. As someone with so many
projects on the go, how do you keep on top of it all? “I’ve had
a problem with it lately, I’ve tried to say ‘no’ to as much as I
can. But it seems to work out… I find if I’m not doing anything
I get bored.” Enough said![/quote]
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