OBSERVER: Rourke’s Reviews
Shoplifters
(M). 121 minutes. Now available on DVD.
Winner of the Palme D’or at the 2018 Cannes Film Festival, this exceptional human drama from world-renowned film-maker Hirokazu Kore’eda (After Life, Our Little Sister) is compelling and moving, asking the viewer what is the true meaning of family.
Inspired by true events, the film follows the Shibata family, made up of father Osamu (Lily Franky), mother Nobuyo (Sakura Ando), older daughter Aki (Mayu Matsuoka), younger son Shota (Jyo Kairi), and grandmother Hatsue (the late Kirin Kiki).
Living in Hatsue’s cramped dwelling, the Shibatas are able to survive by stealing, an art that has even been passed down to Shota. When the close-knit group take in young Yuri (Miyu Sasaki), who is left outside in the cold by her abusive mother one evening, it sets off a series of events, with each member examining what they really mean to each other, how their sense of family compares to the standard set by the very society that shuns them, and the bureaucratic system where human beings can be lost and forgotten.
Kore’eda again weaves a tale devoid of easy sentimentality and melodrama, creating a gallery of three-dimensional characters that are completely believable, while deftly exploring various aspects of modern society, both positive and negative.
His ability to get extraordinary, naturalistic performances from his cast (especially children) is on full display here, and everyone is nothing short of outstanding.
While the unforgettable, heart-wrenching drama Nobody Knows is, for me, Kore’eda’s masterpiece, Shoplifters is magnificent, offering adult audiences the kind of satisfying, nourishing entertainment that is becoming all-too-rare these days.
RATING – *
Under The Silver Lake
(MA). 139 minutes. Now available on DVD.
After gaining much critical acclaim in 2014 for his terrific, John Carpenter-inspired horror film It Follows, writer/director David Robert Mitchell delivered his follow-up feature, Under The Silver Lake, a decidedly bizarre take on the LA landscape and its inhabitants, and while comparisons to David Lynch are valid, there is enough here to give this opus its own distinct identity.
The story centres on Sam (Andrew Garfield), who is unemployed and about to be evicted from his apartment, and how a whole new world is opened up to him when he meets the mysterious Sarah (Riley Keough).
Entranced by the young woman, Sam is unsettled when Sarah disappears as quickly as she appeared, and as he sets out to find out what happened to her, encounters an entire underground society who can only be found via obscure, complicated clues.
For many, Lynch’s beloved Mulholland Drive will immediately come to mind, and while other influences are obvious, Mitchell does believe in the material he has created, and like Quentin Tarantino, effectively fuses his love of cinema to the story he wants to slowly reveal to the audience.
Mitchell re-teams with his It Follows cinematographer Mike Gioulakis, and the two make the most of the Los Angeles locations, imaginatively mixing landmarks people will recognise, with those that are odd and unseen.
Garfield (Boy A, The Social Network, Silence, We Live In Time) is perfect as the laconic but growingly disorientated Sam, but the entire cast has been well-chosen, as Mitchell wants to ensure that every face intrigues as the elusive plot plays out.
At 139 minutes, patience is required, but this skilfully crafted concoction is worth the effort.
RATING – ***½
Japan Sinks
(MA). 10 episodes. Now streaming on Netflix.
World-renowned animator Masaaki Yuasa (Mind Game, Ride Your Wave) teamed up with Pyeon-gang Ho (School-Live!, Sword Art Online) to bring the third adaptation of Sakyo Komatsu’s best-selling novel to the screen, and while very different from the 1973 and 2006 live-action feature films, it is both unpredictable and engrossing. The Japanese public are shocked by a series of horrendous earthquakes, and as we mainly see the events unfold through the eyes of one family, it is discovered that the entire country will end up under water.
The series is dour, grim and sad, but superbly balances the best and worst of human nature, and concludes in genuinely moving fashion.
RATING – ****½
Aaron Rourke