Taika Waititi Should Take a Page from M. Night Shyamalan

Taika’s Troubled Times

Oh, sweet Taika Waititi! It appears our favorite quirky filmmaker just experienced a weekend we’re sure he’d like to forget. His latest film, Klara and the Sun, didn’t just tank at the box office; it flopped harder than a fish thrown back into the sea. With reviews so harsh they turned into a global reality show of rejection, Sony had to pull the plug on its wider release. Ouch!

But wait—there’s more! In a fit of social media bravado, Taika decided to flaunt an article about his film’s 78% audience score on Rotten Tomatoes, but with an extra twist of self-praise. “I haven’t read a review of anything aimed at me or my peers in almost 15 years,” he quipped, throwing shade at critics by branding them as “sad lost souls” who couldn’t chase their artistic dreams. Hypothetically, though, if he truly listened to the audience, maybe he wouldn’t have turned off comments on his post. Just a thought!

Learning from M. Night

Now, Taika isn’t the first director to claim he’s the voice of the people after getting backed into a corner by critics. Perhaps he could take a leaf from the M. Night Shyamalan playbook. You know, the guy who transformed from indie darling to meme material and somehow clawed his way back into relevance? Yeah, that guy.

Both directors had their moment in the sun with their breakout films. Shyamalan’s The Sixth Sense (1999) and Waititi’s What We Do in the Shadows (2014) are documentaries on how to flip expectations on their heads. But alas, Shyamalan’s shine dulled after The Village hit cinemas. Audiences got a bit tired of his twisty-turny narratives peppered with stilted dialogue. It was like his movies were a cardio workout—you had to keep your brain on high alert for those unexpected turns!

From Hype to Humility

Now, zooming back to Taika, after stunning us with What We Do in the Shadows, he made waves with Hunt for the Wilderpeople (2016) and danced into MCU fame with Thor: Ragnarok (2017). He even won an Oscar for Jojo Rabbit, but post that golden moment, things took a dim turn. He lost some sparkle with Thor: Love and Thunder (2022), which was like serving stale bread at a banquet, and his recent flick Next Goal Wins hardly set any records ablaze.

So, what’s the secret sauce? For Shyamalan, it was about dishing out small, spicy horror flicks again and not allowing the bloated expectations to crush him. Starting with The Visit (2015), he gambled on his own funds and learned to embrace a bit of fear again. Meanwhile, his movies started earning again, as audiences were all aboard on his latest crazy train.

A Call to Action for Taika

If there’s any wisdom here for Waititi, it’s to go back to basics. Remember that wholesome simplicity of Hunt for the Wilderpeople? A heartfelt, relatable story that still let his quirky humor shine through. If he embraces that vibe and ditches the celebrity persona for a minute, there’s no reason he couldn’t charm the critics back into his corner. It’s like Tinder for filmmakers—refresh your profile, and the fans will swipe right!

Shyamalan learned to make the films he wanted and got rid of the overwhelming expectations weighing down his creativity. Waititi, bless his heart, once had critics cheering from the rooftops for Boy, What We Do in the Shadows, and that magical mix of laughter and drama in Hunt for the Wilderpeople. If he returns to that raw, authentic storytelling, we’ll be right back on team Taika, ready to champion his work again.

Let’s hope Mr. Waititi takes this cue and stops fretting about critics or social media drama. Time to channel his inner Shyamalan and just make a really good movie! If he does, we’ll all be there with popcorn in hand, ready to praise him like the exciting weirdos we know he can be!