Eagle vs Shark: This Movie From New Zealand is Very Touching and Reveals Deep Secrets About the Human Heart

The 30-year-old actress, Loren Horsley, was absolutely magnetic. Never before have I ejected a DVD and gone immediately back to the video store to rent a film I saw in a DVD preview.

When I got there, they didn’t have it in stock, nor the next time. But it was worth the wait. Eagle vs. Shark is a true gem. It’s wonderful to discover a film that is not marketed at you with all the commercial strength and success of the film making industry.

Eagle vs. Shark is pure cinema. By that, I mean that it is all about using visuals, characters, story and music to create an emotional response in the audience. (It’s not about movie stars or special effects or hackneyed plot devices.)

I was very touched by this film. It’s about two dorky nerd “kids” in New Zealand who are strangely attracted to each other. It comes from a very wise perspective, and it’s perceptive social criticism taught me a lot about surface impressions, reality vs. fantasy, true friendship, forgiveness, and the nature of true love.

Don’t be fooled by the seeming simplicity of this film. I had to watch it twice before I realized it is NOT a sad, depressing, hope-less story about a pitiable girl with no self-confidence. The second time I watched it I laughed a lot more and I had so much admiration for the “nerd girl,” Lily.

Her New Zealand accent is a delight. She reminds me in looks and somewhat in her personality of a girl I once loved, and still love. The funny thing is that I loved the “nerdy” part of my girlfriend more than the “cool” part of her personality. So life imitated art there.

This movie, like life, is definitely not what it seems to be, and it is definitely worth seeing. Your full attention to every detail is rewarded by this movie.

This is the rare movie that has the power to change your perspective on life.

Please don’t miss this one.

Plot

EAGLE VS. SHARK is about the human condition in this fallen, failed, superficial and deceptive world.

It’s about many important issues in life: insecurity, disappointment, pain, lies, pretense, family stuff, unemployment, rejection, and failure.

It’s also about security, real success, truth, happiness, forgiveness, love, truth, acceptance and joy.

In the end, it’s a lot about both.

The title EAGLE VS. SHARK refers to costumes by Lily and Jarrod, the title characters: they get dressed up as these for an “animal party.”

It’s a story about Lily’s feminine pursuit of her love, Jarrod. It’s about her success. She’s a “Dangerous Person.” She’s a shark. A big soft shark of love.

The music in this film is wonderful.

The second time I watched it, I realized that Jarrod was not as much of a jerk as I thought he was the first time, and that Lily was not as weak as I thought she was in my first viewing. For example, Lily gets strong with the rude girl who confronts her at the counter at the Meaty Boy fast food restaurant in the very beginning of the movie. I didn’t really even notice this the first time I watched it.

There are many other things in this film that you might miss:

Lily tells a “white lie” to the the two little girls who approach her counter, saying that her register is broken–because she wants to wait on Jarrod.

Lily is the “solitary predator” just like a shark is, and after she achieves some kind of “success” with Jarrod, she is shown walking (swimming) by a group of girls–the lone predator who has actually done what the girls over there are only talking about.

I love the transformation of the little slips of paper that the boss used to fire her, all with Lily’s name on them: I love how they become the confetti of success in the hula-dance scene.

Lily is a beautiful flower of a girl and she is going for more than just sex with Jarrod: she wants his love.

When she arrives at the costume party, there is a bassy piano that plays a simple theme reminiscent of JAWS.

Think of all the ways winning and losing can be looked at in this film: the dad, who just wanted his suicided son Gordon to “win.” Nobody wants to be valued just for winning: it’s dehumanizing.

It’s very interesting in this film to pay attention to what the characters say–and what they don’t say. (If you watch a film you enjoy more than once, consider turning on the subtitle captioning feature–it can be a very enlightening experience.)

I love the scene where Lily is playing the video game against Jarrod–it seems that she certainly could win, but she is looking at her real prey: Jarrod. So, she wins by losing. Big insight into female psychology there.

Note Jarrod’s prideful remark to Lily about what it takes to beat “a real champion.”

When Lily goes to Jarrod’s place of work, notice that after she talks with Jarrod, she blows on her hands and then wipes them on her clothes: she was sweating. She got excited that Jarrod asked her out, that he showed her some kindness.

Notice the very telling connection between Jarrod’s anger and his “depression.” Notice also how he doesn’t take responsibility for either–or forgive.

It’s hysterical that Damon, Lily’s brother, is in the room when they are having their intimate conversation on the couch.

Notice that when Jarrod comes out of the store he works at, that he says to Lily that the “six” (sex) was good–not that he cared about her.

Lily wants more than cheap sex–she wants love.

The movie is saying: What is cool? What is winning? Not being a fake, but being sincere, and loving people, that’s cool, that’s winning.

I love what the movie is saying about the dad in the wheelchair: he is crippled by his grief, he is not physically crippled at all.

Notice that Jarrod lies, saying that his brother died in a fire while saving children, (something noble and impressive), instead of the truth: he committed suicide by jumping off a cliff.

I love that Lily doesn’t want just anyone to love her–she wants Jarrod, and she turns down the guy on the bike who asks her out. (I love that he is wearing a T-shirt with a black-and-white photo of Hugh Grant in a mugshot, holding jail numbers. (Even winners are losers sometimes.)

At the end, the rock Lily throws at the bird, accidentally, is shaped like a heart, and the rock also is the color of renewal, green, as is her hat, and the grass that she and Jarrod lie on, in the end.

Everyone is this film trades on lies and borrowed fame, trying to bolster their image in the eyes of others, not just Jarrod. Note all the references to Rambo, Mr. T, James Bond, Hugh Grant, Hugh Jackman Austin Powers. (Austin Powers himself being a mockery of James Bond.)

Kinda like Americans in general, no?

I love the foreshadowing of the dad’s wheelchair to the final confrontation with the Samoan at the end. (And that the crippled and regretful Samoan finally gets mad and wins again, anyway.)

I love the PULP FICTION music and the reference to a Samoan, which is also a PULP FICTION reference.

I like the symbolism of how Jarrod’s hatred gets him to burn a cross. (Burning the love and forgiveness of Christ.)

I love movies where you have to read between the lines and think, not just get the plot spoon-fed to you through obvious actions.

I love that Lily tells Jarrod that the girl he originally invited to the Animal Party is a “lesbian” –hysterical!–to force Jarrod to stop thinking of her as a possible love interest.

I love that the most externally beautiful girl in this movie is NOT the love interest.

I love that the dad calls his ex-wife a “lesbian” to avoid any responsibility in the failure of of his marriage.

I like how Jarrod fakes a fall on the bike just to get Lily’s loving attention. (Yes, much of this stuff is very subtle. I missed this the first time I watched the film.)

I love that Jarrod’s eight-year-old daughter starts performing her rock band dance only when she is being watched–another person looking for attention and admiration by association with a “rock star.”

I love the “AWESOME” sports jogging suits. This has to be the most un-Awesome name for a line of clothing!

I love the commentary on what is really failure and what is really success.

I love that Lily changes her mind about the horse counting game when Jarrod says it is dumb, but then Jarrod starts playing it again at the very end, just because he can win, but we all know who has really won: Lily, just as she planned from the very first shot of the film.

This movie is saying that love is the most important thing: kindness and commitment.

Not hypocrisy or fakeness, or false values.

And the movie is right.

The goofiness of the characters in this film disarm us and allow its truths to penetrate deep into our hearts.

What a persevering and loving character Lily is.

Finally, I love Lily’s commentary on life:

“You know, life is full of hard bits, I think. But in between the hard bits, are some really lovely bits.”

This movie is one of the lovely bits.