
A fun fable-ish drama about an estranged father-daughter duo on a dangerous road trip, “Bookworm” is somewhat of a ghost of a movie. Its problematic pacing and eye-rolling performances make it feel like more than a 96-minute drag too. It livens up as the difficulty of achieving ‘deadpan’ makes the film’s portrayal comedic. Bookworm is better off from being too cheesy due to its impressive cast and beautiful drone shots of New Zealand. Oh, and is Wood getting nostalgic for all the places he was in during the ‘The Lord of the Rings’ trilogy? Because it certainly looks like it.
Mildred is an advanced child of her age. She is quite outspoken but extremely wise. “Do you know about Master’s needs hierarchy?” is one of the tip-toe serves she uses at one point. Mildred herself is a cherubic and smart character like most other deeply adored movie children.
The one in dire need of correcting is Mildred’s father, a haphazardly dressed American Strawn, who is desperately trying to make it big as an illusionist (his word choice). He lost touch with young Mildred ever since she was a toddler, but then decided to step into her life after an incident where Mildred’s mother fell into a coma due to her toaster’s explosion.
Strawn’s debt keeps ranking aggressively, pushing his wife into a deeper void. To remedy that, Mildred aims at taking pictures of the panther. To motivate, he tells her that a 50,000 dollar bounty awaits. Henceforth, she and her father are set off on a trip to find the beast. And off we go into a slightly darker than usual, yet comedy fueled father-daughter bonding movie which contains picturesque landscapes and all-around charming characters. Most of “Bookworm” consists of a two-man outdoor play that contains violent shards of poetry. For the most part, the movie stays lighthearted and pleasant.
But there is a subplot containing some hikers who are not what they seem and who end up causing some trouble, which, of course, is resolved in favor of the main characters because this is not a movie that says “Now go home and be sad forever about the injustice of life”, and everybody involved does not need that from us.
“Bookworm,” a film written by Toby Harvard and directed by Ant Timpson, who created and won New Zealand’s 48-Hour film challenge in its first year. The winner was a unique unknown comedian by the name of Taika Waititi. Timpson and Harvard have worked with Wood previously with the horror comedy film, “The Greasy Strangler.” It is exciting to observe the three of them effortlessly undertaking a task that is highly anti-realistic and far more advanced than what one may expect. Even the tone and story are unlike what is typically released commercially.
Wood’s fame was established by Peter Jackson’s original Tolkien trilogy, which was a great experience for him. Unfortunately, his subsequent strong work has overshadowed him. Wood acted very well in this match, adding an additional memorable contribution. He brings life to a rather hapless character Fisher who speaks with a warm voice describing himself as ‘well-meaning’ and in the most crucial circumstance manages to find his inner self. Fisher is such a blast and strong superwoman that you constantly question the South American authenticity of this character which no wonder, she utters or performs is never seen in real life. This young actress is the Roald Dahl real thing. I mean, the kind of resilient, imaginative child. She would have made a great Matilda.
Watch free movies on Fmovies.