Noteable - JoJo Rabbit (2019) will beat you into submission

Coming of age stories follow a pattern: We meet a child, the child learns a hard lesson, innocence is destroyed, and an adult is created. JoJo Rabbit diverts that, telling the story of JoJo, a naive Hitler Youth who breaks free of indoctrination to become a child once more. Of course, his imaginary friend is Hitler (in a quite supportive, hilarious role by director/writer Taika Waititi) who gives him good advice and peps up young JoJo when he's down. Then he finds out a Jewish girl (McKenzie) is being hidden in his walls by his mother (Johansson). What follows is a young man confronting truths he thought were rock solid and learning. The farcical plot rockets along with joke after joke, even when dealing with hard topics such as hanging dissenters and the imminent invasion of Russians and Americans. Not one actor slouches here, giving Waititi career defining performances both big (Rebel Wilson is a comic force), subtle (Sam Rockwell and Alfie Allen are the best gay Nazis ever), and menacing (something evil lurks behind Stephen Merchant's smile, even when he's geeking out over a young kid's Hitler posters). Overall this comedy punches at an easy target, delivering not a biting satire but a poignant message of humanity.

Here are my notes, beware spoilers:

Writer/Director: Taika Waititi (Funny Thor, Funny Shadows, Funny Conchords)

Starring: Roman Griffin Davis (In an ummmm new kid), Thomasin McKenzie (in a Hobbit, I've heard), Scarlett Johansson (in an Avenger, I've heard)

Mini-Shaun of the Dead

Not gonna lie, the main two kids (JoJo played by Davis and Yorki played by Archie Yates) reminded me so much of Simon Pegg and Nick Frost it hurt. Just the vibe from the kids is the same nonchalant reservedness Pegg and Frost excel at. I hope these two work together in the future.

Not good at Nazi sleep-away camp

Jojo so wants to be the best Nazi, but he just can't make it. The depiction of Nazi sleep-away camp is hilarious in the mundane depravity of the Nazi regime. Instead of campfire tales of monsters in the dark, the kids here get ghoulish tales of "the Jews" with fangs sleeping upside down. Instead of arts and crafts and baseball, the kids get to run trenches and throw grenades.With all this, however, we learn that our little JoJo is super bad at it all.

Small, skinny, Hitler imaginary friend, careful about life

Here's my description of Jojo at the beginning. He wants to be the best Nazi, making Hitler his best imaginary friend. Yet at his camp he's small and kind, careful about everything he does. When the big bad Nazi kids taunt him to be like them, to kill a rabbit, he runs. Sure, Hitler reassures him that it's all okay, but we know Jojo is better than that.

Best Scarjo

By far, this is the most I have liked Scarlet Johnasen in a long time. She's affable, kind, stern, and caring as Jojo's mom and as a secret resistance leader. To be fair, the most exposure I have had to her is as the stoic Black Widow in the Avengers movies, but even in those films we do not see her range as an actress. Here Waititi lets her be a three dimensional character allowing us to love her.

Writes Letters

Oh poor Jojo. He finds a woman under his stairs, a Jewish woman he can protect, but she's got a boyfriend off in the war. Of course he fakes writing letters from the boyfriend to the girl, breaking up with her. What other plan would a ten-year-old make? The amusement and pain he causes her brings about his turn eventually, his innocence great and vast as he learns more about her situation.

Hitler Jelly

And while he's getting closer to Elsa, the girl in his walls, his friend Hitler gets more and more mad. Why shouldn't he? Elsa is taking Jojo away from being a good little Nazi and making him into a nice, complete human being.

Sam Rockwell steals, gay

Much like every other role he has ever been in, from the Hitchhiker's Guide to Moon to Iron Man 2, Sam Rockwell kicks the hell out of this role. He's amazing as always, both in his brash bravado and his subtle homosexual undertones with Alfie Allen who also gets nods for subtly. Well, until Rockwell puts on that final uniform anyway...

Mom shoes

Done with subtlety, Waititi over and over shoes us Jojo's mom's distinctive shoes. The visual awareness comes across as a visual quirk, a gag, until it hits you in the gut why he did it. Bastard made me care, and I can't forget that.

Hilarious little Nazis

While we are caring, having our hearts beating out of our chests will Jojo's panic and pain, the combined American and Russian forces attack. Rebel Wilson (doing her over-the-top comedy with amazing surety) leads her little Nazi youth army in hilarious fashion. The culmination of the satire and the emotion, the end battle is punctuated with small moments that in any other movie would be trailer worthy. Hug the American, indeed.

You can't leave me

Just as the action and comedy reach a climax, so does the emotion. Jojo's insistence in keeping things status quo is the final gut punch, his panic in the world changing forever. What he doesn't realize, it already did.

Dance over

And we end, as most movies should let's be honest, with a dance. A slow thing, a capable thing, a wondrous exploration of the human body dancing can be. It's a release of everything and an exaltation of being alive. Dance, you crazy ones. Dance even if it means a slow sway while looking at someone who makes you happy.