It’s been amazing to watch New Zealand director Taika Waititi’s rise to Hollywood dominance. Why? Because his work (from indie darlings to blockbuster tentpoles) is defined not only by quirky humor, but pathos and, sometimes, downright melancholy.

Waititi’s films are often characterized by a childlike view of reality—and the heartbreak that comes when that reality fractures. There’s a universality to the stories he tells, giving them a sticking power that lies beneath their delightfully silly jokes.

Despite being busy with TV shows like Our Flag Means Death, Reservation Dogs and What We Do in the Shadows, Waititi has two new films coming out this year, Thor: Love and Thunder (which opens this week; read WW’s review here) and the soccer comedy Next Goal Wins. The man has a lot on his plate—and many a great film in his catalog.

Here, ranked from good to best, are the films of Taika Waititi.

Some directors come right out of the gate with a winner. Taika Waititi wasn’t one of those directors, but his first flick isn’t without its charms.

Jemaine Clement stars as Jarrod, an emotionally stunted 20-something who invites his girlfriend Lily (Loren Horsley) to the country to meet his parents and watch him fight his high school nemesis. It’s a potentially grating premise, but Waititi wisely focuses on the delightful Horsley (with whom he co-wrote the script), whose adorkable vibes make the story rather endearing. Still, the best was yet to come for the Kiwi wunderkind.

5. What We Do in the Shadows (2014)

Is this the best vampire movie ever made? That’s debatable, but it’s unquestionably the funniest. Written and directed by Waititi and Clement, Shadows expands upon a short mockumentary the pair made in 2005 about a coven of bloodsucking fiends living a quiet life in a Wellington flat.

Shadows (which later spawned the TV series of the same name) is the shallowest of Waititi’s films, but it has freewheeling anarchy akin to the Marx Brothers. It’s funny—like, laugh-out-loud, piss-your-pants, have-to-pause-the-movie-until-you-catch-your-breath funny, which is rare to find in any era.

Boy has a sense of humor, but it’s the saddest of Waititi’s films next to…well, we’ll get to that later. Set in the small New Zealand town of Waihau Bay, the movie follows 11-year-old Boy (James Rolleston) as he spends a winter reconnecting with his estranged, ex-con father, Alamein (Waititi).

While Waititi grew up in communities similar to the one depicted in the film, Boy is less a rose-tinted tour of a filmmaker’s nostalgia than an unconventional coming-of-age story. Boy’s sweetness and  imagination are constantly threatened by a world that can be as apathetic and cruel as it is familiar and comforting. It’s a tricky balance to pull off, but Rolleston and Waititi do so with aplomb, creating a unique little project that’s sure to sweep you off your feet.

Taking over the less-than-favored Thor franchise, Waititi gave the series an ‘80s-glam makeover and amped up the comedy—without skimping on the heavier stuff.

Thanks to Waititi, the journey of Thor (Chris Hemsworth) and the culmination of his relationship with his ne’er-do-well brother Loki (Tom Hiddleston) are genuinely moving. On top of that, Waititi sneaks an anti-colonialist attitude into the mix, reminding us that the sins of an empire can’t stay buried forever.

Ragnarok also boasts some of the downright raddest action in the Marvel Cinematic Universe, unleashing violence as hyperkinetic as a Dynasty Warriors game (and scored by Mark Mothersbaugh’s ethereal synthwave and Led Zeppelin’s iconic “Immigrant’s Song”). The result is a neon-tinted ride that, interpersonal drama aside, asks us to simply have fun with the space viking and his magic hammer.

There are out-there comedy pitches and then there’s Jojo Rabbit. It’s the story of a precocious youngster and his kooky imaginary friend—except the setting is Germany, circa 1945, the youngster is Jojo (Roman Griffin Davis), an enthusiastic member of the Hitler Youth, and his imaginary friend is a childish conjuring of Der Führer himself (Waititi).

What can one say but “Yikes”? And yet Jojo is a deeply affecting piece of work—a funny, romantic, heartbreaking, triumphant and a defiant rejection of fascism’s inhumanity.

Waititi is easily the funniest Hitler since Lorenzo St. DuBois, but the film belongs to Griffin Davis, Scarlett Johansson (who plays Jojo’s mother, Rosie), and Thomasin McKenzie (who plays a Jewish refugee Rosie hides in the walls). Jojo Rabbit netted Waititi an Oscar for Best Adapted Screenplay—and it was well earned.

When a juvenile delinquent (Julian Dennison, a gold mine of nonsense bravado and earnest vulnerability) flees into the New Zealand bush pursued by his guardian (Sam Neill), the pair unexpectedly wind up on a grand adventure—all while staying one step ahead of an overzealous bureaucrat (Rachel House, playing an insanely funny avatar for government incompetence).

While the story of Hunt for the Wilderpeople is preposterous, the scenario is so charming that you wind up hoping the film will go on forever. For all its outlandishness, Wilderpeople knows its characters forward and back, and never lets their emotional journeys go by the wayside. It’s hilarious, it’s touching, it’s a marvel to look at, and it’s the best film from a man who makes very good films.

SEE IT: Thor: Love and Thunder, rated PG-13, opens Friday.

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