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Reviews
Dare mo shiranai (2004)
A gentle meditation on survival, independence and interdependence.
Kore-Eda's 2004 film 'Nobody Knows' follows the life of four children who are left alone in a small Tokyo apartment after their mother abandons them.
Yuya Yagira plays the eldest Akira who moves into the apartment with his mother (You), to the landlord's knowledge, as the only child. After moving in, the three other children are smuggled in suitcases and after dark. The youngest three are asked never to leave the apartment or be seen by anyone, giving Akira the sole responsibility of providing for them. From the first scenes of them moving in we get a sense that the mother is unstable and immature with her childish tones and playful manner. After leaving money for the children she sets off and is never seen again throughout the film. What follows is a gentle and slow story of what happens to the children after their mother has left. As they run out of money and the gas, water and electricity are cut off, they are slowly forced to rely on the goodwill of others (a local schoolgirl, the employees of a nearby convenience store) to get by. The natural lighting and the use of hand-held camera give this film a sense of realism, as one if following the children themselves. Wordless scenes of sleeping, general ennui and the children playing highlight the boredom brought on by their confinement amongst the slowly building filth. The film was shot over a period of approximately a year letting the viewer to experience the full four seasons of Japan and follow the children throughout the biting cold of winter, the joy of spring and the cherry blossoms (the first moment in the film where all four children lave the apartment to play in the open), the frustratingly humid and hot summer and the wet 'rainy season'. As mentioned by others before, this process narrative doesn't follow a usual story development and is more a meditation on the roles of adults and children in society. Are children always the immature ones? Are adults the ones who know best all the time? The only drawback of the film is its length but those that are drawn into this world will be curious to see what happens and stick with it until the end. The long wordless scenes and intermittent music add to the trance-like atmosphere of the film. I haven't seen Kore-Eda's earlier work but this is a great place to start, I'm keen to see more. A rich and rewarding film.
He Died with a Felafel in His Hand (2001)
Read the book instead.
While I do try to support the Australian film industry (being Australian myself) occasionally an stinker comes along and, I'm afraid, 'He Died With A Felafel In His Hand' is one of them. Much has been made of this movie as it is the adaptation of a book by John Birmingham. A book that traces the author's life through various share houses around Australia and humorously captures the ups and downs of house sharing. Dealing with an array of strange guys who collect their pubic hair, live in tents in the lounge room and complain about our materialistic and corrupt society. Putting these characters to life would have been a difficult task for the director Richard Lowenstein and this is clearly evident as the film isn't as successful as the book. While Noah Taylor is good as Danny, the tortured writer, the other characters in the film are two dimensional and not worth worrying about or caring for. The characters are merely caricatures of 'weird and wacky' people and the dialogue inexcusably overbearing, the delivery hopelessly bland. Too often characters come in, talk a lot in a very convoluted and quirky manner and then leave only for this routine to be repeated again and again (with different combinations of characters) throughout this meandering wreck. The set design is well done though but only reinforces the fact that this film is all about surface. Much has been made of the soundtrack which is good. Any film that starts with the Stranglers' 'Golden Brown' deserves a shot. But what happens from there is merely pot luck...
Read the book!
Chinatown (1974)
noir.
Polanksi's 'Chinatown' stands as one of the classics of 1970s American cinema, the last classic period in American cinema. It's a great reminder of how utterly engaging cinema can be without the special effects, flimsy plots and outrageous stunts of many major studio productions now, not evening mentioning the obvious marketing tie-ins.
The cinematography and screenplay could be considered almost economical in its minimalism as it is really the story, script and characters that drive this movie forward.
Chinatown tells the story a detective, confidently played by Jack Nicholson, who gets embroiled in an investigation involving the mysterious murder (suicide?) of the head of the Water Board. During the investigation, he gets involved with Evelyn Mulwray, the wife of the murdered man who appears to want to get to the bottom of the mystery but during the course of the movie demonstrates that she is not telling the whole story and has something to hide.
Everything in this movie works from already mentioned tight editing down to the costumes and sets.
Nuff said!
10/10
Somersault (2004)
Wonderful Australian drama.
This very moving and human drama is a finely wrought piece of Australian drama set in the snow fields of Jindabyne.
After having an argument with her mother, Heidi (Abbie Cornish) leaves for the snow fields of Jindabyne. She chooses Jindabyne because some man she had met in Canberra has given her his card. Heidi is a hot headed 16 year old with low self confidence and the need for some space.
During her time in the mountains, she get a job at the local service station and one chilly day meets Joe (Sam Worthington) with whom she develops strong feelings for. Her meetings and encounters with Joe are a lot deeper and resonate more emotionally for her than her dalliances with other male members of the Jindabyne community.
This powerful coming-of-age/adolescent-girl-finding-herself drama is visually stunning with Robert Humphries' cinematography lending an atmosphere of uncertainty and discovery with hand-held moments mixed also with blurs and slow motion. He also captures the beautiful scenery which despite the drama, reveals that beautiful things still do exist.
Australian band Decoder Ring's soundtrack increases the sometimes dream like atmosphere of the picture.
Abbie and Sam's performances are also brilliant and reveal them to be talents to keep an eye on in future, their performances are very natural and not at all forced giving the picture a grounding that increases the emotional resonance of the movie and contrasts with the cinematography.
My only gripe is the speed at which the beginning of the story is told, never really giving a huge insight into the life that Heidi is so quick to leave behind.
A wonderful Australian drama. If you liked Walking On Water, then i recommend this.