The Paragon

Very entertaining "microbudget" sci-fi fantasy from New Zealand with a lot of charm and humour. It reminded me a little of Garth Marenghi and The Mighty Boosh in its tone and comical flights of fancy (also Flight of the Conchords, now I think about it).

Benedict Wall is solid and likeable as the disgruntled everyman hit by a car who then trains to become a psychic to get revenge on the unknown driver, but Florence Noble is best of all as the glum-faced and velvet-robed cosmic witch who initiates him into the mysteries of telelocation and parallel universes and the like.

As something made for very, very, VERY little money (25 grand!), this looks amazing, its silliness is infectious and it puts in enough work to deserve to become a beloved cult all its own. With a good-enough script behind it, a sequel would be fun.

"The Paragon" honestly was not as I was expecting. Then again, films from New Zealand can be like that...which I love about them. And although it took a while for me to get into this and it started getting a little muddled toward the end, the film ultimately wrapped up in a satisfying way.

The film follows Dutch, who is permanently crippled after being hit by a car that leaves the scene. He involves the services of a woman who can help him to psychically locate that person to confront them.

For a very low budget film, much was accomplished with decent acting, an overall good script and clear direction. This looks like a more expensive movie, and almost has a Waititi feel about without going over the bend, though not quite as clever. Although the performances lift it up, I just had difficulty connecting with it initially, and the psychic stuff got a little too complicated and briefly took me out of the story. These issues brought the rating to a 6, but I think it's still well worth a watch. Kiwi humor is always a nice distraction.

An interesting exploration of some fairly heavy themes (which I won't spoil) on a tiny budget, The Paragon does well to switch between quirky character moments, trippy 70s-style visuals, and a great synthwave soundtrack (which doesn't feel as pretentious as it does in other recent films parroting 80s culture).

I'm not sure that the comparisons people have drawn between it and things like Flight of the Concords and What We Do in the Shadows is particularly fair, since this one has a heavier, more melancholic tone (likely partially due to the cool color palette) and does have funny moments but at nowhere near the frequency of the aforementioned works (which is fine; it's just different).

Basically, if you go into it as a quirky indie dramedy, you'll have a decent time. It didn't quite hit the mark for me, but it was worth seeing nevertheless, particularly for those who like time travel stories, and I like seeing weird little auteur works like this still getting made.