‘Bookworm’: Fantasia Review

Dir: Ant Timpson. New Zealand. 2024. 104mins

An estranged father and daughter go on an odd odyssey in Bookworm, a likeably quirky family film that could use a little more comic inspiration. Elijah Wood brings ample charm to the role of a mediocre American magician who reunites with his precocious Kiwi 11-year-old Mildred (Nell Fisher) after her mother slips into a coma. At first Mildred is furious to see her dad, but they have no choice but to work together once she becomes determined to track down a mythical giant panther that lives in the nearby wilderness. The New Zealand landscapes could not be more enchanting, although the story lacks a similar magic.

Elements of a modern fairytale

Bookworm is a lighthearted opener for this year’s Fantasia Fest, and genre fans’ adoration for Wood should help raise the picture’s profile. Commercial prospects look to be only modest; a New Zealand release is planned for August 8, and the film has sold to international territories including Australia, USA and UK/Ireland. Still, those who prefer their family films to be a tad peculiar may be pleased by this idiosyncratic, uneven project.

Mildred, who lives in the Canterbury region of New Zealand, is the bookworm of the title and always has her nose in a tome – which unfortunately means she’s not especially popular with her more sociable classmates. (Also probably not helping is her affected speaking style, an attempt to sound more sophisticated than her peers) After a freak toaster accident leaves her mother in a coma, Mildred has no one to care for her — until, that is, her absent father, a past-his-prime entertainer named Strawn (Wood), appears. These two have never met — Mildred was the product of a forgettable one-night stand in Las Vegas — and she is thoroughly unimpressed at his attempts to be paternal. (Plus, she thinks he’s a terrible magician — a term he despises, insisting on being referred to as an illusionist.)

Reluctantly, Mildred recruits Strawn to take part in a camping trip she and her mother were scheduled to undertake, to try to capture video of a rare and dangerous local panther – a feat that would net the lucky cameraperson a $50,000 cash prize that her debt-ridden family desperately needs. Mildred may not get along with Strawn, but an adventure filled with foot chases, robberies and car crashes may end up bringing them closer.

New Zealand filmmaker Ant Timpson previously worked with Wood on his 2019 feature directorial debut Come To Daddy, a story of a father and son trying to mend fences. Bookworm has elements of a modern fairytale, including the use of chapter titles and the narrative’s suggestion of the possible existence of genuine magic. (Strawn believes in such enchantment, but his daughter is sceptical, especially after he clumsily tries to perform tricks meant to dazzle her.) The film’s off-kilter sense of humour — a mixture of deadpan and broad comedy (including fart jokes) — only further accentuates the picture’s whimsical qualities.

What hurts Bookworm is a strained storyline built around this search for the elusive panther. The effects work on the ferocious creature is solid, but there isn’t much sense of wonder around the panther — and, likewise, no greater metaphorical implications to the mighty beast that this dysfunctional father and daughter are seeking. Further narrative obstacles are introduced — chiefly, a seemingly neighbourly couple (Michael Smiley, Vanessa Stacey) who try to befriend our protagonists during their quest — that only result in an over-complicated plot. By the time Strawn and Mildred are dangling from a rope suspended precariously high above the ground between two mountain ranges, Bookworm has become a convoluted yarn lacking sufficient emotional undercurrents or ace set pieces.

Wood capably comports himself as this hack magician who is also a failure at life. There’s real vulnerability in the performance as Strawn tries his best to stop being a screw-up, although he rarely succeeds as either an entertainer or father. Fisher has a tougher time, in large part because her character is more of a gimmick than a girl. Despite her advanced vocabulary and highfalutin diction, Mildred is painfully insecure, hiding behind her smarts to compensate for her loneliness; something that never stops feeling like an artificial conceit. 

Adding to the picture’s feel of a fractured fairy tale, cinematographer Daniel Katz, who also worked on Come To Daddy, shoots the film’s initial interior sequences in a small, square aspect ratio, only to then stretch the frame to widescreen once this father and daughter set off on their journey. But the promise of that sweeping adventure never comes to pass — like Strawn, Timpson isn’t always successful in weaving a compelling illusion.