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Dare mo Shiranai - Nobody Knows ( 2004 ) --review

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Klonkku
Post subject: Dare mo Shiranai - Nobody Knows ( 2004 ) --review
Posted: Sat 08 Oct , 2005 9:47 pm
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We had a week-long Love & Anarchy -film festival here in Helsinki about a month ago. The event celebrated films from all over the world, including Japan, China, New-Zealand and France ( among others ). I saw 14 films within 7 days, and the two which really stood out were Dare mo Shiranai ( the film in review ), and Hayao Miyazaki's Howl's Moving Castle. Without further babble, let's begin.




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Nobody Knows is a tale about four children who are deserted by their young mother. It is inspired by a true story of similar nature - a tragedy which happened in Japan not too long ago.

In the beginning, we witness the mother ( played by Japanese idol YOU ) and her 12-year-old son Akira ( played by Yuya Yagira ) moving into a new suburbian apartment carrying heavy briefcases. The briefcases contain the little-brother and -sister of Akira, who are purposefully hidden from the sight of the landlord. They are told to never leave the house or make loud noises in fear of being exposed ( and 'thus kicked out ) of the strictly two-person apartment.

The mother, seemingly incapable of committing herself to her children, decides to leave them for good - only hinting at the plans via a letter, which is found by Akira. What follows is a heart-breaking account of how the children fight against the odds of living without parental care, Akira taking the responsibility as the eldest of the family. First they get money and promises from their mother via letters, but eventually she forgets about them completely.

With the plot-summary out of the way, I will dive into what I really loved about the film - and what, in my opinion, made it a special experience.

First of all, the performances by the children were phenomenal. I read, in a review, that the director only gave them the ideas for the scenes moments before they filmed them, and let them improvise. In a nice ( and deserving ) turn of events, Yuya Yagira - the 12-year-old Japanese actor playing Akira - won the Best Male Actor -award at Cannes.

Secondly, the movie doesn't fall to over-dramatization. It is shot almost exclusively from the children's perspectives, being full of camera-angles and shots that paint the illusion of child-like innocence. The only hindrance might be it's relatively long running-time ( standing at 141 minutes ), but all patient movie-goers should feel at home.

Thirdly, the atmosphere is gloomy, yet always hopeful. It is a very dense emotional matrix, which had me from the balls ( so to speak ). Lovely - rather rough, but lovely. To all the mothers and fathers out there, bring a kleenex or two. Consider yourselves warned :)

With that said, I recommend the film heartily. It is one of the best movies I have seen this year - if not this millennia :)

5/5


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