A Silent Voice Review

The Plot

A young hearing impaired girl Nishimiya Shoko transfers to a new elementary school but struggles to win the acceptance of her increasingly unkind classmates. Some years later the boy primarily responsible for her bullying Ishida Shouya is dealing with his own loneliness and crippling guilt, setting the pair on an unlikely path towards friendship and forgiveness.

The Good

A Silent Voice deals delicately with important and powerful themes that speak to a truly global audience. With time and sincere care the film explores the emotional complexities of both bullying and disability. Both issues are in truth tackled far too rarely on screen and the film is laudably ambitious in dealing with both simultaneously.

With the aid of a diverse cast of characters surrounding the central paring of Nishimiya and Ishida,  the film captures a detailed portrait of the wide ranging impact the stigma of both bullying and disability can have on victims, perpetrators and bystanders.

In particular the film deserves considerable praise for the unflinching way it captures the perhaps surprising parallels between Nishimiya and Ishida’s experiences.  The film manages to illustrate the ugly pains and frustrating isolations they both endure without allowing either character to be solely defined by them.

Though the film is frequently punctuated by moments of pain and grief it also balances this with humour, affection and elegant visuals. While generally tending towards a more realistic style of animation the film does take advantage of a more playful and cartoonish approach to certain characters and scenes to add some much needed joy.

It’s simply hard to imagine a better piece of cinematic evidence for the unique capacity and advantages of using animation for sophisticated emotional storytelling.  Watching this film will powerfully illustrate why Japan uses animation as a preferred medium for all genres of cinema, not just the more stereotypical examples of giant robots and fighting ninjas.

The Bad

Those unfamiliar with the unique nuances of Japanese culture and its emotional mind-set may find elements of the characters behaviour a little harder to understand at times and psychologically draining to watch. Even by the standards of western melodrama, the Japanese penchant for relentless self-recrimination accompanied by wailing tears and throwing oneself to the ground in prostrate apology may seem almost excessively hysterical.

Though A Silent Voice explores legitimately heart-breaking subject matter, non-Japanese audiences may find their sadness gives way to possible frustration, particularly during the later stages of the film’s lengthy 2 hour and 10 minute run time.

The apparent absence of a much needed calming and sensible adult intervention is increasingly hard to ignore. Likewise it’s exponentially agonising to find so many of the characters unable to merely move beyond their past mistakes and embrace their newfound happiness. However it may be that this is partly a flaw in adolescence rather than just a criticism of this specific story.

The Ugly Truth

A Silent Voice is an exquisitely animated piece of unashamedly poignant melodrama.  It is by equal turns tragic, romantic, humorous, sincere and ultimately uplifting. The film represents some of the very finest elements of Anime that may have a particularly surprising impact on those just discovering the true range and depth of Japanese animation.

Review by Russell Nelson

BAFTA Film Awards 2017 Winners Pictures

Check out an exclusive Red Carpet News TV gallery of pictures of winners from the EE BAFTA Film Awards 2017 at the Royal Albert Hall.

 

EE BAFTA Film Awards 2017 Report

At tonight’s EE British Academy Film Awards La La Land was named Best Film, with Damien Chazelle winning Director and Emma Stone receiving the award for Leading Actress. Linus Sandgren won for Cinematography and Justin Hurwitz won Original Music.

Casey Affleck won Leading Actor for his role in Manchester by the Sea, which also earned its writer/director Kenneth Lonergan the award for Original Screenplay. Supporting Actor went to Dev Patel for Lion, for which Luke Davies won Adapted Screenplay. The ceremony was hosted for a 12th year by Stephen Fry and held at London’s Royal Albert Hall, and featured performances by Cirque du Soleil and Sheku Kanneh-Mason, winner of the BBC Young Musician 2016.

Supporting Actress went to Viola Davis for her role in Fences. All four actors are first-time BAFTA winners. Outstanding British Film was won by I, Daniel Blake, directed by Ken Loach.

Ava DuVernay’s film, exploring race in the US criminal justice system, 13th, won the award for Documentary. Kubo and the Two Strings took the award for Animated Film, and Film Not in the English Language was won by Hungarian holocaust drama, Son of Saul.

Arrival received the award for Sound, Hacksaw Ridge won for Editing, Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them collected the BAFTA for Production Design, Florence Foster Jenkins took the award for Make Up and Hair, Jackie won Costume Design and The Jungle Book received the BAFTA for Special Visual Effects.

Writer/director Babak Anvari and producers Emily Leo, Oliver Roskill and Lucan Tohreceived the award for Outstanding Debut by a British Writer, Director or Producer forUnder the Shadow.

Home won the British Short Film award, while the BAFTA for British Short Animation was won by A Love Story. The EE Rising Star Award, voted for by the public went to Tom Holland.

The Special Award for Outstanding British Contribution to Cinema was presented to film distributor and exhibitor Curzon for its work in bringing art house and foreign language cinema to British audiences.

Nathan Lane, Simon Pegg and HRH The Duke of Cambridge, President of BAFTA, presented the Academy’s highest honour, the Fellowship, to writer, director, actor and producer Mel Brooks.

EE BAFTA Film Awards Winners List 2017

The winners of  the EE British Academy Film Awards  2017 are  listed in full  below :

BEST FILM
LA LA LAND Fred Berger, Jordan Horowitz, Marc Platt

OUTSTANDING BRITISH FILM
I, DANIEL BLAKE Ken Loach, Rebecca O’Brien, Paul Laverty

OUTSTANDING DEBUT BY A BRITISH WRITER, DIRECTOR OR PRODUCER 
Under the Shadow: BABAK ANVARI (Writer/Director), EMILY LEO, OLIVER ROSKILL, LUCAN TOH (Producers)

FILM NOT IN THE ENGLISH LANGUAGE
SON OF SAUL László Nemes, Gábor Sipos

DOCUMENTARY
13th Ava DuVernay, Spencer Averick, Howard Barish

ANIMATED FILM
KUBO AND THE TWO STRINGS Travis Knight

DIRECTOR
LA LA LAND Damien Chazelle

ORIGINAL SCREENPLAY
MANCHESTER BY THE SEA Kenneth Lonergan

ADAPTED SCREENPLAY
LION Luke Davies

LEADING ACTOR
CASEY AFFLECK Manchester by the Sea

LEADING ACTRESS
EMMA STONE La La Land

SUPPORTING ACTOR
DEV PATEL Lion

SUPPORTING ACTRESS
VIOLA DAVIS Fences

ORIGINAL MUSIC 
LA LA LAND Justin Hurwitz

CINEMATOGRAPHY
LA LA LAND Linus Sandgren

EDITING
HACKSAW RIDGE John Gilbert

PRODUCTION DESIGN
FANTASTIC BEASTS AND WHERE TO FIND THEM Stuart Craig, Anna Pinnock

COSTUME DESIGN
JACKIE Madeline Fontaine

MAKE UP & HAIR
FLORENCE FOSTER JENKINS J. Roy Helland, Daniel Phillips

SOUND
ARRIVAL Sylvain Bellemare, Claude La Haye, Bernard Gariépy Strobl

SPECIAL VISUAL EFFECTS
THE JUNGLE BOOK Robert Legato, Dan Lemmon, Andrew R. Jones, Adam Valdez

BRITISH SHORT ANIMATION 
A LOVE STORY Khaled Gad, Anushka Kishani Naanayakkara, Elena Ruscombe-King 

BRITISH SHORT FILM 
HOME Shpat Deda, Afolabi Kuti, Daniel Mulloy, Scott O’Donnell

EE RISING STAR AWARD (voted for by the public) 
TOM HOLLAND

The LEGO Batman Movie Review

The Plot

In LEGO Gotham Batman finds his comfortable existence of single handily saving the city interrupted when the Joker’s latest scheme sees all the familiar villains suddenly out of action. Meanwhile he has to deal with a hotshot new police commissioner and the boy Bruce Wayne accidentally adopted.

The Good

In the LEGO Movie Will Arnett’s boastful hard rocking Batman was an unexpected delight. It’s rare that supporting comedy figures are so instantly popular that they are immediately given their own starring vehicle. The resulting Lego Batman film has the same glorious visual style as the eye catching Lego movie, which turned the universally popular children’s toy into big screen delight.  In addition to an immensely fun and colourful visual appeal, the new film in the rapidly emerging Lego Franchise share much of the same playful comedy tone that made the Lego movie such a sure-fire hit with fans of any age.

The LEGO Batman Movie manages to strike a pretty perfect balance, combining frequent nods to the rich comicbook and cinematic history of the Batman franchise with an entirely original take on DC’s most famous creations. The team behind the film succeed in integrating all the familiar characters and gadget packed Batman action with the unique properties of the even more wildly imaginative LEGO universe. As with the very best parody there’s also a strong undercurrent of affection for the character that will be shared and appreciated by fans.

Leading man Arnett remains a magnificent vocal fit for the costume clad role, using his trademark flare for hilarious delusional narcissism to create the perfect parody of the iconic bat suited billionaire vigilante. Watching him dispatching villains whilst performing his own hard rocking theme songs is pure ridiculous joy.

The rest of the film’s vocal stars are all equally familiar and well-chosen talents. Michael Cera is a perfect foil for his Arrested Development co-star Arnett’s bluster, playing a wide eyed and eager to please young Robin. Rosario Dawson does a good job of playing a frequently exasperated New Police Commissioner Barbara Gordon and Zach Galifianakis has plenty of fun playing an emotionally fragile Joker who really just wants Batman to give him some proper attention. Finally Ralph Fiennes lends some authentic British pomp to Batman’s long suffering man servant Alfred.

Enjoyable comedy performances, and constant laugh packed action consistently maintains the attention of audiences of any age. A somewhat spectacular action climax featuring musical numbers and cameos from some unexpected characters is just one of the treats the film offers Batman and LEGO fans.

The Bad

The harshest of critics might suggest that Arnett’s arrogant Batman parody is effectively an entirely one note joke. While Arnett no doubt excels at this kind of humour, lampooning misplaced egotism, it’s fair to say for much of the film he’s treading in very familiar waters. Though undeniably a good fit for this Batman send up, it is definitely the same comedy stich that Arnett has offered up in Arrested Development, Bojack Horseman and just about every big screen cameo he’s turned in. Though a welcome and often scene stealing delight in small doses of ensemble casts or episodic TV, it’s fair to say that those that aren’t so impressed by it will find it harder to tolerate in full feature length glory.

The Ugly Truth

The LEGO Batman movie serves as both a magnificent expansion of the newly created LEGO cinematic universe and playful comic book homage. Young fans and older Batman devotees alike will equally enjoy the experience.  The film also serves as a total antidote to the increasingly drab and dreary world of Zach Synder’s live action DC Universe.

Review by Russell Nelson