Boy is a coming of age film directed by Taita Waititi and is set in 1984. It is about the life a Maori boy known as Boy, his younger brother Rocky and several cousins living in the rural areas of New Zealand. Boy was an interesting character because Taita Waititi used Boy to portray important ideas such as the transition from innocence to experience.

The film begins with a mid-shot of boy introducing his ‘interesting world’ to his classmates. This camera technique involves the audience making us feel as if we’re sitting in the classroom. Boy introduces his estranged father as a person who can “dance as good as Michael Jackson, a master carver, deep-sea treasure diver, captain of the rugby team and holds the record for punching out the most people with one hand”. Boy fantasizes about having a father who is capable of those things. This tells us that Boy is lonely and lacks the comfort of having a father and a role model. From this example, Taita Waititi shows us that not having support from people we love makes our transition from innocence to experience harder and coming of age a difficult journey.

Things turn out unexpected as Boy’s grandma has to leave for a funeral and Boy’s father Alamein and his friends arrive at night. It is dark which creates a dangerous mood which shows us that Alamein should not be trusted. However, Boy invites them inside for tea. Threeshots are used to show Boy, Rocky and his cousin, followed by a threeshot of Alamein and his henchmen. This shows the adults as a reflection of the children- older but still immature and reckless and compares Boy’s maturity with his father’s. From this we realise that Boy has taken on the role as the father of the household and has lost his childhood at an early age. When we compare Boy to other children we start to feel sorry for him as he had to grow up much quicker in order to take care of the needs of other children. However, Boy’s positive attitude gives us hope.

Boy has lost his innocence and experienced more than the average 11 year old. Boy was seen helping his father Alamein pick Marijuana of a friend’s field. Alamein decides to go to a local hotel to trade Marijuana but gets beaten up by real gang members. During the fight, Boy sees Alamein dancing Michael Jackson moves which shows us that even though this happened, Boy still sees the best in him. The lighting