Silence

“I pray but I am lost. Am I just praying to silence?”

For decades Martin Scorsese has been pushing the limits of the cinematic medium through evocative styling and directorial decisions as a channel for storytelling – so perhaps it’s telling that one of his greatest achievements is his new film, the understated, brooding, minimalistic Silence.

In the 1630s, news reaches St Paul’s College, Macau that Cristóvão Ferreira (Liam Neeson), a Portuguese Jesuit who had helped bring Christianity to the people of Japan, has renounced his faith after being tortured in the anti-Christian purges of Japan. Two of Ferreira’s devout pupils, Father Sebastião Rodrigues (Andrew Garfield) and Francisco Garupe (Adam Driver) cannot believe that their mentor would commit apostasy and set out on a three year long journey to find him.

With the help of an alcoholic fisherman, Kichijiro (Yôsuke Kubozuka) the priests reach Japan and land at Tomogi, a small village with a secret Christian population to which the priests administer the sacrament. Soon however a band of Samurais led by “The Inquisitor” (Issei Ogata) arrive in the village, looking to flush out Christianity from the land and are after the Jesuit priests. Meanwhile, the fate of Father Ferreira remains a mystery.

With Silence, Scorsese strips away the directorial personality he’s built up over nearly fifty years of filmmaking. His camera is almost always static because the beauty and terror of what’s on-screen speaks for itself. The Kluge siblings score is practically non-existent, because like with a smattering of examples from Raging Bull, The Last Temptation of Christ, Goodfellas and The Departed, Scorsese’s use of silence is the most powerful sound. His co-authored screenplay doesn’t draw you in like some of his others, but is true to the novel, and aside from a smaller than you might expect role from Liam Neeson, his frequent collaborators are nowhere to be seen. What hasn’t changed is his undying passion and dedication to storytelling. Twenty-five plus years of research, understanding and maturity went into the creation of this, one of his most impressive films to date.

To suggest however that Silence isn’t cinematic would be an injustice to DoP Rodrigo Prieto’s work and would gloss over one of the crucial elements that ties Silence together. With a distinctly minimalist look and feel, the character of the landscape is as mysterious and unforgiving as the inquisitor himself. If Raging Bull is Scorsese’s most physical portrayal of the harsh realities of the body, then Silence is his most visceral representation of how abusively all-encompassing nature can be, and is central to the films depiction of the direct correlation between Buddhist beliefs and the environment – a determinate factor in the fate of the Christian communities living under such intense persecution.

Indeed the core focus of the film is to find some sort of reconciliation between the ancient undying beliefs held in 17th Century Japan and the influx of Christianity, a task simply impossible for the time with many indirect victims on both sides. Layered on top of that is the challenge for these priests and the persecuted population to maintain unwavering faith with no sign or manifestation from their deity; only silence. Where some films use cinematic technique to manipulate audiences, Silence simply lays down a narrative and lets the viewer draw meaning. Faith is cruel and unexplained, as is humanity, and it’s up to the audience to find some sort of answer or at the very least closure from that.

Ultimately though this is the story of one man’s crisis of faith. Garfield’s Rodrigues takes centre stage for the vast majority of the film and suffers immensely at the hands of a people trying to protect their dynasty from what they see as a spiritual pollutant. Rodrigues is torn between his search for answers in regards to Father Ferreira, a desire to peacefully serve the oppressed Christian Japanese, and personal spiritual uncertainties that have been brooding throughout his Mission. This is Andrew Garfield’s best performance to date, brimming with compassion, suffering and spiritual rumination. Driver is similarly fantastic, although as with Neeson his time on screen is limited compared to Garfield. Some of the best depictions come from the hugely talented Japanese cast. Yoshi Oida as the Elder of Tomogi, Shin'ya Tsukamoto - one of the oppressed villagers, and Issei Ogata as the horrific yet somehow serene Inquisitor are all superb in their roles.

Silence is an extremely rare example of elemental filmmaking that will have hugely varied effects on audience. It will enlighten some, bore others and destroy many. It trusts so deeply in its own material and the themes buried beneath that it’s willing to leave audiences with questions unanswered, perhaps to dig deeper if they can find themselves ever watching it again. It may not have the mainstream appeal of Wolf of Wall Street, but Silence is nevertheless, a masterpiece.

Trailers Week 137: 19/02/17

Ghost in the Shell

We get our first proper look at this anime adaptation. All of these stories are the same though. Something gets taken, another person tries to get it back.

Colossal

That's a lot of responsibility for an alcoholic to have.

Dean

Demetri Martin's brand of comedy isn't for everyone. I know it is for me though.

The House

Will Ferrell and Amy Poehler are just the types who would open a casino in their house.

Everything, Everything

After she dies, will he feel super guilty? He should.

Song to Song

How did I not know this would be another weird Terrence Malik movie.

Mine

Talk about a tough situation.

The Institute

When someone says you're going to be in safe hands in a sinister way, you get out of there.

Fences

Adapting a famous Broadway play into a film is never an easy task. There are always going to be a lot of expectations that come with it. Will the story be faithful? Will the performances live up to those that came before? Not only that, how is it possible to make a film out of a play that takes place on one set? Luckily, Denzel Washington knew the weight of what he was doing when it came time to direct this film.

Troy Maxson (Washington) is a garbage collector in Pittsburgh. He has had a rough life, but has finally settled down with Rose (Viola Davis), whom he has been married to for eighteen years. Together they have a son, Cory (Jovan Adepo), who is being scouted by a college football team. Troy, however, is adamant that Cory get a job that he can apply himself to and not be beholden to the whims of white people. This is something that he has already seen with his brother Gabe (Mykelti Williamson), who suffered a brain injury during the War in the Pacific, and with himself as he tries to get a job as a driver of a garbage truck.

Fences has a bit of genius when it comes to the staging of the action. Rather than the restrictive nature of the stage play being confined to the Maxson's small yard, Washington is seamlessly able to move throughout the house and street out the front. This gives us a lot better understanding of the area in which Troy and Rose live as well as the living conditions of the black neighbourhood in which they live. It is also the way in which the film is able to convey the differences between black and white people. We never see white people in the neighbourhood, they are always shown in other places, places of unknown distance to Troy and Rose's house, but we can only guess there is a large distance separating them.

The performances are the strongest that I've ever seen in a movie and this probably has to do with something that not a lot of other films get to do. The main cast members were actually able to do a Broadway run of the play before they went into shooting the film. And you can tell this with the final product. The sheer intensity of the first thirty minutes of the film comes from so much practice. I was really surprised by Denzel, because I am so used to seeing him in action or crime films. I know he did a lot of serious roles in his younger days, but nothing can prepare you for seeing an overweight and drunken Washington. Viola Davis is even better, as it feels as though the pain she experiences throughout the film is genuine. Finally, Mykelti Williamson is just so amazing as Gabe, and his performance is able to bring out reactions in his cast mates that are just beautiful and telling.

Fences takes place on both a small and large scale at the same time. The story that we are seeing before our eyes may be localised, but the implications were much broader for black people of the 1950s. Fear of white people was completely justified. Denzel Washington does a great job in terms of the balancing act that he had to do and drew fantastic performances from the rest of the cast.

Hidden Figures

With Hidden Figures you get a two-for-one deal. It tells the story of the forgotten black women who worked on the early days of the space program in the US, just like it's advertised as, but it also goes deeper and explores the damaging nature of the segregation laws that were present in many of the southern US states during the 1960s. Those two parts combine to make an impactful and inspirational story.

In 1961, Katherine Goble (Taraji P. Henson) works at NASA, crunching numbers on whatever project she is assigned to. She is one of a larger group of black female mathematicians that do this job that also includes Dorothy Vaughan (Octavia Spencer) and Mary Jackson (Janelle Monaé). One day she is hired by Al Harrison (Kevin Costner) and his Space Task Group in order to put a man into space. There is immense pressure to do so from the government, as the Soviets have not only launched their series of satellites, but they have beaten the US in sending a man into space. Since Katherine is a black woman, she has the twin obstacles in proving that she can actually do the job and gain the respect of her colleagues.

After doing some research, I found out that the segregation of the facility in which they work had been basically non-existent since the 1950s. The reason I mention that fact is that it leaves the film in a strange limbo. The movie is very much about being a black person in the 1960s and the majority of society was subject to these Jim Crow laws, but at the same time the film has to be true to experiences of the people being portrayed in the film. I think that director Theodore Melfi balances these two elements really well and that although the segregation laws may not have affected these women in the ways presented in the film, it allows the audience to extrapolate them into the rest of society.

To make these strong women believable and sympathetic, they need to be backed up by strong performances from the female leads. Luckily this movie has plenty of those. Taraji P. Henson transforms into Katherine Goble so completely it's fantastic. She is able to really convey the strength and confidence that the Goble must have had to work in a completely male environment at a time when women were not at all seen as intelligent beings. I am a huge fan of Octavia Spencer and whenever I see something that she's in, I know that she is going to give the best she can and she doesn't disappoint. Especially when it comes to being the comic relief of the three leads, something that she excels at. It seems that to get your film nominated for best picture you need to put Janelle Monaé in it, because she has been in two Oscar nominated films this year (the other being Moonlight). Her character's struggle against segregation is the more amazing of the three as she became the first qualified black female engineer for NASA, which is no small feat. It's also worth noting that if you want to make a movie set during the Cold War, there is an obligation to put Kevin Costner in it.

Hidden Figures is an incredibly inspirational movie. I know that we don't live in a world that has such open discrimination where racism is acceptable (in most countries at least), it is good to be told a story that you can do whatever you want if you work really hard to go out and get it. This is especially true of a world where the pay gap between the genders is so big when it shouldn't be.

Trailers Week 136: 12/02/17

The Circle

Tom Hanks would probably make a really good cult leader. He's very charismatic and people have a tendency to listen when he talks.

Wish Upon

This is like if you had a magic monkey's paw that didn't run out.

It Comes at Night

This looks like it wants to be classy horror movie, but chances are it won't be.

The Beguiled

I don't know who you should be more afraid of here. There's something sinister about a group of women living in a Civil War house all on their own.

Aftermath

I guess he has a right to be angry, but I don't think the air traffic controller did anything terribly wrong. It's just one big accident.

Snatched

I mean if this stops certain people from travelling overseas, then I guess they shouldn't be doing it in the first place.

Unlocked

I'm guessing that there's a government group that wants to commit a terrorist attack and blame it on extremists? Don't go giving people ideas.

Avengers: Infinity War

Not a trailer, but a behind the scenes look for all you Marvel fanboys out there.

Patriots Day

Patriots Day is the third movie in an unofficial trilogy directed by Peter Berg and starring Mark Wahlberg (the other two being Lone Survivor and Deepwater Horizon). I say it's unofficial because no one has come out and said as much, but when you watch all three back to back, you can definitely see a unified theme. And that's the idea that Americans can band together to overcome adversity. The first one was a single man, the second a small group of people and this one a whole city.

The movie starts the night before the 2013 Boston Marathon, where BPD Officer Tommy Saunders (Mark Wahlberg) is arresting a suspect of a murder. He is on probation for his unconventional techniques and is told by Commissioner Ed Davis (John Goodman) that the probation will finish if he patrols the marathon in uniform. As the day of the marathon begins, various people go about preparing for their day, whether it's going to the marathon or baseball, or just another day of school or work. Also preparing for something, although much more sinister, are Tamerlan (Themo Melikidze) and Dzhokhar Tsarnaev (Alex Wolff), two Chechen-American brothers intent on committing a terrorist act in the name of radical Islam. The majority of the movie takes place after the bombings during the subsequent manhunt for the brothers.

This movie does a good job at not stirring up anti-Islamic sentiment in it's characters. There is even a hesitation on the part of the lead FBI investigation to even call it terrorism. There isn't even any dialogue condemning Islam apart from a character asking "Is it Al-Qaeda?" only to be shut down. The only real bias this movie has is a pro-Boston leaning, in which it showcases the strength and unity the people of the city had during the tough few days. The Bostonian elements are also are weakness for the film as there are a lot of over the top stereotypes. There are accents galore, especially from the proud hometowner Mark Wahlberg, as well as a scene where a native husband teaches his wife to say "let's watch the Red Sawx and Fenway Pahk". While it would be fun to satirise in any other movie, it doesn't really have a place here. I think the only two other more Bostonian films you're going to find are Good Will Hunting and The Departed.

Peter Berg does do a great job in building the tension leading up to the bombings. He builds the scene by cutting from the victims (who we've met) to the brothers placing the bombs. This heightens the fear that we have for what is about to happen. Various use of actual news and CCTV footage from the event is edited into the actual film quite seamlessly and this is aided by the fact that Alex Wolff looks shockingly like the real Tsarnaev. The shootout that happens towards the end with one of the brothers is handled well, although it is a little over the top. This sequence has the best (and pretty much only) part of J.K. Simmons appearance in the film. In it he's jumping over back fences spouting one liners, it's a fun five seconds.

That's also one of the more frustrating parts of the movie, the fact that there are way too many characters. We spend the first ten minutes getting to know characters who disappear halfway through, or don't have any importance to the plot until the latter part of the film. Take for instance, Dun Meng (played by Jimmy O. Yang). He is kidnapped by the Tsarnaev brothers three days after the bombing, but we see him at the start of the film. While I understand that this was done to show the widespread impact the whole event had on everyone involved, too much time is used to build a life for these characters. There are a lot of characters in the film who suffer from this because they are all based on real people and I guess they didn't want to do injustice to any of the people. Nearly all of them are real anyway, all except Mark Wahlberg's character. I think they were trying to make him the main character, but failed as they spread themselves way too thin.

Patriots Day has the best intentions. But I think those intentions have made it difficult to cover such a harrowing event. There seems to be a feeling that every aspect of those couple of days has to be covered. Instead of focusing on just the people of Boston or the investigation or the bombers themselves, they try and cover all of it. When you do that there has to be a sacrifice of details and I feel as though that is what happened.

Manchester by the Sea

The ultimate challenge for a filmmaker is creating a rich enough atmosphere to connect audiences with the deeper themes and emotions they are presenting on screen. From sorrow and loss to heart and love, Manchester by the Sea delves deeply into the story of a man who’s lost his way; his sense of self.  Not a single opportunity is lost in creating a rich emotional story for all audiences to get absorbed into.

Lee Chandler (Casey Affleck) is a lonesome yet irritable man living a reserved life in Boston. He seems content living out his days completing odd jobs for cash and moping his way about the city, until news of his brother’s (Kyle Chandler) passing summons him back to his hometown to take care of his nephew Patrick (Lucas Hedges). This return to his past fully unearths Lee’s demons; an emotional tragedy linked to his past he has clearly been trying to forget. With Lee’s past tragedy showing itself once again, he is tested as he is forced to confront all he has tried to run away from, with relations such as his ex-wife Randi (Michelle Williams) being shoved back into his life.

The dynamics explored between Lee and various other characters are fantastic. A man who has completely shut himself off emotionally, forced to face the realities he has been running from for so long; no doubt a big ask. Affleck nails this range perfectly, while the severity of the situation is contrasted with vibrant flashbacks to Lee’s former life, making his emotional unavailability even more jarring. Surprisingly tasked with the job of taking care of his nephew, Lee is distant and unsupportive to a teenager who doesn’t want to admit he is grieving. Tense freak-outs line their dynamic as grief displays itself in strange ways, and Affleck’s range is tested as Lee looks to battle fresh grief and old sorrow at the same time.

As a whole, this emotional atmosphere is created and maintained well. A blanket of calm seems to lay over a catastrophe of pain and loss in Lee’s life, and the audience can really feel the tension. As the severity of Lee’s personal situation begins to reveal itself, this aura increases in intensity, and by the end of the film you’d find yourself completely engaged. Affleck’s acting ability headlines the credits for this success, but merit must be given to writer/director Kenneth Lonergan who no doubt worked tirelessly and meticulously to create this rich environment on screen.

With The Oscars fast approaching, Manchester by the Sea has definitely thrown itself in the running for a plethora of awards. The rich, emotional acting across the board has not gone unnoticed, as the audience really gets pulled into the story of sorrow and grief on display. Exploring the entire range of human emotion, Manchester by the Sea is a great flick, as it easily draws in audiences and leaves them wanting more from the emotionally turbulent story.