Second world war comedy Jojo Rabbit has won this year’s people’s choice award at the Toronto film festival, a prize that’s seen by many as a major predictor of Oscar success.
The film, which follows a young German boy who turns his idol Adolf Hitler into an imaginary friend, is written and directed by Taika Waititi, who also stars in the film. It’s described as “an anti-hate satire” based on the book Caging Skies by Christine Leunens and also stars Scarlett Johansson and Sam Rockwell. Waititi’s previous films include What We Do in the Shadows and Thor: Ragnarok.
After a crowd-pleasing premiere, the film picked up mostly positive reviews with Time Out’s Joshua Rothkopf claiming that Waititi is “legitimately breaking new ground” although there were many detractors. Los Angeles Times’s Justin Chang criticised it as being “terminally self-satisfied” while The AV Club’s AA Dowd called it “the most twee Holocaust movie ever”. The film was also awarded two stars in a Guardian review.
Waititi has spoken about his struggles to get an actor to play the role of Hitler which he eventually took on himself. “Most people really loved the script,” he said to the Hollywood Reporter. “I think it was a little difficult for people to figure out if it was a good career move, and I can fucking totally understand. Who really wants to see themselves as Adolf Hitler on a poster?”
Second place went to Noah Baumbach’s semi-autobiographical divorce comedy drama Marriage Story, also starring Johansson as an actor divorcing her theatre director husband, played by Adam Driver. The film has received universal acclaim since its original premiere in Venice. Third place was given to Bong Joon-ho’s class satire Parasite, which many are predicting could be a rare foreign language best picture nominee.
The last seven winners of the people’s choice award have all either won or been nominated for the best picture Oscar. Previous winners include Slumdog Millionaire, Precious, 12 Years a Slave, The King’s Speech, Room and Green Book last year.
