Eagle vs Shark

AroView: Wearing its Kiwi heart on its sleeve to delightful advantage, Taika Waititi’s skewed romantic comedy managed to please a crowd both here and abroad, and is destined to become a Kiwi classic.

Set in an endearingly uncouth suburbia, Flight of the Conchords’ Jemaine Clement is typically charismatic in the role of the conceited, self-deceiving Jarrod, but the show belongs to Loren Horsley, whose note-perfect portrait of the sweetly insecure Lily is one that resonates well beyond its comic parameters. Supported by Waititi’s string of creative flourishes (including some deft animated sequences), wonderfully idiosyncratic humour (“Napoleon Dynamite” be damned), and the gorgeous melodies of The Phoenix Foundation, this is one for all New Zealanders, and geeks the world over, to savour.