By guest columnist Ben Zuk.
So here we are, a new year, with new movies to be watched in the church we like to call a cinema. One of its greatest priests Martin Scorsese releases the passion project he’s laboured hard to get on the screen for longer than I’ve been alive. A sense of anticipation and awe permeates the theatre, a feeling that remains throughout the majority of the movie.
Until it just doesn’t for the last 20 minutes or so.
Scorsese will show you wonders and aces up his sleeve you never knew he had, it’ll just sometimes be at the expense of emotional beats for a lengthy 2 hours and 40 minutes, combining what feels like a burning love for this project and for movies into what is effectively a mute epic.
Scorsese relies upon his new visual playbook of locked down, mythic quality and the sound of silence up against his visuals to guide the film, but the weight on his back collapses it. But not before though we get a film of prime visual communication, skillful acting and brilliant characters, and an extraordinary historical drama both informative and surreal.
You feel it in the room, that church-like appreciation a good film can have, a shared excitement in the quiet. It feels one part adventure epic, one part foreign movie, one part a surrealist void of artsy fartsy movies. Yet it never compromises itself as a whole.
It’s a beautifully shot and articulated journey with one key goal in mind: Andrew Garfield’s struggle of faith against the silence of God in the face of great suffering, primarily among his flock of hidden Christians.
Andrew Garfield gets to do most of the heavy lifting, with an inner monologue throughout that gives the movie a link to its literary beginnings and extra meat on its bones. Garfield flickers from time to time, not enough to take away but it’s a nuisance.
It can’t be denied Adam Driver does a better job of the two. Both have a spindly look of fresh talent eager to make a mark on Hollywood (as would anyone who wished to repent for the The Amazing Spider Man 2) that chocks up well to veteran Liam Neeson in the story’s plotting.
Yōsuke Kubozuka, Issey Ogata and Tadanobu Asano are the definitive standouts. Issey Ogata has you coiled up at the wince of an eyebrow, Yōsuke Kubozuka provides a physical performance (as does Ogata) that’s extremely merciful and telling. Tadanobu Asano is just damn damn good. The whole Japanese cast outshines its English speaking cast.
Alas Silence, a story of wills, morals and faith falls flat shockingly.
There’s way too much in the way of push and pull in the last act, it causes you to think so much it manages to overwhelm you and lose you. What was mere minutes before a compelling tale starts to bore you and make you wish you were off somewhere else.
Maybe it needs a re-watch, but it leaves so much food for thought and little thinking room.
How it pains me to write that, but Silence is 2016’s most conflicting movie. Score: 78%
Ben Zuk is a film fanatic, plain and simple. Find his reviews on instagram and vimeo.