Boy by Taika Waititi

In the film, Boy, directed by Taika Waititi was about an eleven years old boy named Boy,

who is still yet to find his true identity. The film began with this boy giving his speech for a

school report of the topic “who am I?” Boy came across emotional conflict between him and

his father and the way he dealt with them is shown through a range of film techniques such as

chiaroscuro, close up and montage.

The technique of chiaroscuro was used in the scene when Boy first met his father in a long

time. Soon after Boy said “storm’s coming”, his father, Alamein, turned up unexpectedly,

accompanied by two of his mates. This showed that the storm symbolised that something big

is going to happen. Chiaroscuro was used on the head light of Alamein’s car in contrast with

the darkness of night time. The technique is used to show that his dad is going to bring great

influences in Boy’s life. The first conversation between his father and him was very formal “Do

you guys want a cup of tea?” This suggested that they haven’t met for so long that they are

emotionally disconnected and also the internal conflict between them as they do not know

each other at all even though they are father and son.

The camera shot of close up was used to show the emotional conflict between Boy and his

dad. This was shown in the scene when they are in the garage and Alamein said to Boy “Can

you stop calling ma dad? It sounds weird.” Close up was used on Boy’s face to show that

he was smiling after his dad said that. This shows that Boy is so used to living without his

parents that he doesn’t seem to care if he has a dad or not. Alamein doesn’t know how to be

a father and most importantly, he doesn’t want to become one. His true purpose in returning

home is not to reconnect with his son but to dig holes in a field to retrieve his stolen money he

has buried.

Montage was used to the show that Boy had found his identity, who