Jumbo: NZIFF Review

Easily the oddest sell in the Incredibly Strange portion of the programme, Jumbo is the tale of Portrait of A Lady on Fire's Noemie Merlant's Jeanne, who falls for a rollercoaster at the amusement park where she works.

Jeanne has a condition, objectum-sexuality, that leads her to fixate a relationship between herself and the new rollercoaster in town.

Despite her over-bearing mother trying to pair her off with her new boss, Jeanne's less interested, coming only alive when she's around the rollercoaster.

What could easily be exploitative and laughable, becomes surprisingly intimate and unconventionally humane in Jumbo. 

Director Zoe Whittock's preference to never mock its subjects ends up leaving you with a wistful and thoughtful meditation on what desire means to many.

Merlant is thoughtful and awkward as this weirdly sweetly told tale unfurls in its esoteric edges; much like last year's Deerskin where a man became obsessed with his jacket, Jumbo deals with an unconventional subject with much aplomb.

Initial scenes where Jeanne believes the coaster is talking to her have both Close Encounters edges and an almost ET like naivete as the pair connect - on paper, this is a difficult sell admittedly; however, on screen, the Spielberg-esque aesthetic joys bring back memories of films of kids connecting with aliens and robots and society not understanding them. It's a mesmerising and inventive watch to say the least.

Don't overlook Jumbo - it's one of the programme's hidden secrets that's well worth discovering.