Two Cars One Night

Taika Waititi

Visual

24/04/20

The film Two Cars One Night tells the story of two young children, Polly and Romeo. They are both in different cars on opposite sides of an open parking lot next to the pub their families are in. As the film progresses we see the two characters engaging with each other using mean comments and arguing and shouting to get each others attention. Slowly they become closer and at the end of the film they become friends.

Out of the few characters we are introduced to in the film, I find Romeo was the most interesting to me. I thought he was funny with how he spoke and the words he used to act like he was much older than he really is, he is stopped in his tracks when he asked his brother Ed “Aye bro i’m 13 aye?” which Ed responds with “Nah he’s 13.” At home I have 2 younger brothers who are 10 and 8, Romeo acts closely to how my siblings do. I felt like from the start about how he wouldn’t stop trying to get Polly’s attention that he was extremely bored and Polly was the only other person in the parking lot apart from his brother Ed. Romeo is very inquisitive and I can relate to him on a personal level with that. When the man driving the old station wagon drove past them Romeo nodded and he nodded back. I think Romeo was trying to impress Polly with that by showing him he is not afraid of other people. 

A message I took from watching this is how the kids are left in the car while the adults go out drinking and having a good time with their friends. For lots of kiwi kids this is a reality. For these kids being left in the car might be normal for them but for other people it would be the complete opposite. Being left in the car at the supermarket is hard enough. Personally I would not be able to handle the boredom of waiting for hours on end while my parents are off having fun. Being left at home with a babysitter or going to pubs that have an area where parents can leave their kids until they leave would be better. It also shows neglect from the parents as it tells us that this happens often and they don’t really care about how their children are coping being left in that car for so long. I feel lucky because my parents don’t drink. Only every now and again at a special occasion but they don’t go out of their way to go to pubs or anything like that. Taika uses this scenario to show how in desperate times a little bit of kindness and even just not being the only one left in the carpark goes a long way.

In the film Romeo had the challenge of getting Polly’s attention. First off he tried yelling insults and rude words and kept doing that until he got a response. She then ignored him and he started making loud noises in his car. If I was Romeo I probably would have called out like he did except without the harsh language and insults. I think that would have worked much better and had the same outcome if not better. Polly faced the challenge of how to respond to Romeo. Whether or not to fire back at him with insults or ignore him. I also feel that Romeo was not very confident and this hindered him from telling Polly his actual age and acting the age that he was. A big challenge Romeo and Polly faced was also the fact that they had to wait for hours by themselves for their parents to get back. To be honest I would just use the time to catch up on sleep or just read. These characters overcame most of the challenges quite well I feel. Even though I feel it’s not the best way to do it, but in the end everything worked out the same.

Taika used the title “Two Cars One Night” because it’s simple and tells the audience that the film will be about two cars at night. It’s simple and fitting for the context of the film because it is literally about two cars on one night and the friendship that develops between the occupants. I think that Taika had many options for titles for this film knowing the genius director he is. 

I would recommend this film to my younger brothers because I think it would be quite beneficial in a way that they can see how some other kids behave around strangers and also I’m 100% sure that they would find it funny. It’s also a good way to show them what happens to some kids when they are neglected by their parents while they are out having fun and not including them. I think it will make them think about how lucky they are and maybe have a different approach to things in the future.