What We Do In The Shadows

"A few documentary crews were allowed to film a group of ancient vampire's activities for a few months."

Title: WHAT WE DO IN THE SHADOWS

Year: 2014 Directed By: Taika Waititi, Jemaine Clement Written By: Taika Waititi, Jemaine Clement Duration: 1 hour 26 minutes Genre: Mockumentary, Comedy, Horror Starring: Taika Waititi, Jemaine Clement, Jonny Brugh Language: English Score: 9.5/10

So, this is quite an underrated indie-comedy. The language is English but it's from New Zealand, so you'll hear an English accent you don't hear very often. I've heard of the movie and saw the trailer once but I've forgotten about it. I decided to watch it out of curiosity and the awesome reviews it recieved. Also, because it's co-written, co-directed, and co-starred by Taika Waititi a.k.a Thor: Ragnarok director. Well, thankfully it didn't disappoint me at all as I ended up having really great laugh for an hour and a half. 

WHAT'S GOOD ABOUT IT?

1. THE CONCEPT OF 'MOCKUMENTARY' DONE RIGHT

To be honest this is the first time I've watched a movie with this genre. It's basically a movie presented as a documentary but actually fictional. I had high expectations because I suppose it will be very funny (the concept of made up documentary about vampires living in modern day New Zealand). And it is! It's a documentary with all the spontaneous conversation, very obvious lighting, and individual interviews, but made really funny. I mean, they are vampires after all. The point is to show us how they actually live. Not surprisingly, because this is a comedy, they're shown as really shabby and weird, with somehow reduced cruelty. The whole concept is incredibly perfect. 

2. THE WHOLE STORY

Again, following around vampires in modern day New Zealand is a unique story to be told in a movie. It could've just been entirely horror, but thankfully it's more of a comedy. Some things might spook you, but more things bring you laugh. The development of the story is also plausible. You won't feel bored even for a second as how documentaries usually do to you. You're either laughing, cringing, amused, or touched. Everything is entertaining, every sequence after the other is even better than before. 

3. THE COMEDY

They don't actually throw in jokes right away. The movie makes you laugh by showing their actions, conversations, interactions, back story, and individual interview. The normal things that are slightly twisted to make it funny. Their true ridiculousness is what makes you laugh.

4. THE CHARACTERS AND THEIR RELATIONSHIP

The writers create really funny yet realistic character. Well, with a little spice of exaggerating. The one who's too tidy, the one who's so full of confidence, the sloppy one, the quiet innocent one, and so on. The way they interact with each other is also great. It's not interesting and funny at every second but it's always there to entertain you at some point. 

WHAT'S NOT GOOD ABOUT IT?

Oh, fortunately, I don't sense anything bad about this movie. Trying to be fair, but really, it's just great!

WHAT'S SO-SO ABOUT IT?

1. SOME SHOTS MAKE IT NOT LOOK LIKE A DOCUMENTARY

It's not a fatal flaw, really. And my eyes could've just been wrong. But I do think there are some shots that are quite too perfect for a documentary, as if set perfectly to get a good shot, not spontaneous, even though the situation is not set yet. It's not disturbing, though, just made me question it once in a while. 

2. THE MUSIC (IT'S GREAT BUT NOT DOCUMENTARY ENOUGH)

Yup, it really fits every scene, making it even funnier. But, maybe because I've watched too many documentaries and notice the long silence without music in them, I find this "documentary" is too rich of music. Well, it's not extremely rare to find documentaries with lots of suitable music, but it's not the most common either. Still, I don't reject the idea of putting music a lot because it really does make it funnier, and who doesn't like that?

So, as a conclusion, I categorize this movie as a must-watch. It's just entirely funny with a different kind of genre and characters. Seriously, you're not going to regret it.