A hoot for the whole family
Review
Bookworm (PG, 101 mins) Directed by Ant Timpson Reviewed by Graeme Tuckett ****
In an unnamed suburb of a New Zealand town, somewhere not too far from the glorious landscapes of Canterbury, 11-year-old Mildred is making plans to snare a cat. The family moggy – the long-suffering Jonesy – will do to practise her traps on. But Mildred’s true goal is to go in search of the mythical Canterbury Panther. That long-rumoured denizen of the plains and valleys that seems to turn up – just slightly out of focus – whenever there’s a slow news day in Te Wai Pounamu.
But before Mildred can launch her expedition, a mishap at home puts her brilliant and hugely resilient mum Zo into hospital.
Which means Mildred’s dad – the long-absent stage magician Strawn Wise – will have to fly to Aotearoa and do a bit of parenting, for the first time in his life.
Mildred and Strawn don’t get off to the best of starts. But they agree that a few nights camping might be fun. And while they are out in the wild, maybe the magician and the nipper can bond over a hunt for that elusive big cat?
It wouldn’t be the first parent-child relationship that’s been saved by a shared interest in crypto-zoology. What could possibly go wrong? Bookworm is the second feature – as director – from New Zealand’s Ant Timpson. And it’s fair to say that it’s a cracker.
Elijah Wood always looks like he’s enjoying himself when he’s in Aotearoa – and he does some great work here as dad Strawn.
Wood has the tricky task of imbuing Strawn with some recognisably complex emotions for the adults in the audience to respond to, but of still turning in a performance that keeps the storytelling rolling along and gives Mildred someone to bounce her doubts and exasperations off. Wood – as he generally does – knocks it out of the park.
Over the course of Bookworm, Strawn will have to grow from the nervy and lost man who we meet in the first minutes, into someone who can stand up to danger and earn the respect of his daughter.
Wood does much of the heavy lifting with glances, gestures and some precise shifts in body language and posture. On the page, Strawn is an unlikely and eccentric creation, but Wood makes him believable and hugely empathetic. It’s an appropriately magical performance.
But the star here is Nell Fisher as
Mildred. Fisher was a stand-out as the youngest daughter in last year’s Evil Dead Rise and she brings a similar spark and presence to Bookworm.
Even at 11 years old – as she was when Bookworm was being shot – Fisher knows how to convey a lot with stillness and silence – and when she springs into action, she does it with real precision and drop-dead comedic timing.
The script is great – and Fisher is being well directed – but the actor still has to do the work to bring a character to life and make us want to watch them, and Fisher has that ability in spades.
The next time we see her will be in season five of Stranger Things. I reckon she’ll be sensational in that too.
Next to Wood and Fisher, Michael Smiley (The Lobster) and Vanessa Stacey are perfectly boo-hiss as the villains of the film, and Morgana O’Reilly is terrific as mum Zo.
Bookworm is just a lot of fun. There’s a retro-vibe about the storytelling and staging that is easy to love (if it wasn’t for a few cellphones on screen, you would swear Bookworm was set in 1982, not 2022) and everyone involved has clearly brought their very best work.
Bravo, and take the whole family. Bookworm is a hoot.
Bookworm is in cinemas nationwide.