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Dare mo shiranai (2004) (Nobody knows) - Hirokazu Koreeda
This film is based on a true story from 1988, known as the "Affair of the four abandoned children of Sugamo"; 4 children (one brother aged 14 and 3 sisters aged 7,3 and 2) are abandoned by their mother and left to fend for themselves, which has tragic consequences. The mother had 5 children, but the youngest one died and seeing as how none of them existed officially, she wrapped the body in some plastic and put it in the closet of their apartment. After their mother leaves them to live with her new lover, the brother gets involved with some kids one of which ends up killing the youngest child. The brother then wrapped up the body and took it to some neighboring mountains to bury it in a shallow grave.
The film's story is less gruesome. It starts off well enough, you see a loving mother and her 4 children, Akira aged 12, older sister Kyoko, younger brother Shigeru and youngest sister Yuki. Things are not perfect, their mother has to work late so the kids are left to fend for themselves most of the time. But soon, the illusion starts to dissipate. We find out that none of the kids go to school, they are unregistered with the authorities and therefore must hide their existence, only Akira is allowed to leave the apartment to get groceries. The mother, a seemingly sweet woman, starts to show her imperfections, staying out late, sometimes leaving for days, leaving them some money and Akira to take care of the others. Then one day, she leaves to live with her new boyfriend, and never comes back...
What follows is one of the most harrowing viewing experiences I have witnessed. This is Grave of the fireflies multiplied by 50. During almost two and a half hours we see how the children slowly lose control over their life. The pacing of the film is brilliant, it spends a lot of time establishing the previous, semi-endurable situation where there mother appeared to be a very caring creature, then the gradual disillusionment, her departure and their initial response to it; hopeful as any child would be that their mother will return, they deal as well as they can, they stay within the rules their mother has set for them (never let others see you, don't go on the balcony, stay quiet)...and then eventually their childish nature prevails as we see the apartment gradually becoming dirtier, they slack off on their duties, forget the rules and break them. As desperation slowly sets in, they become more frustrated and their once perfect relationships deteriorate.
The director handles the underage actors incredibly, these are the most realistic performances from child actors I have ever seen. If I didn't know any better, I'd say these children were really made to stay in that apartment for a long time, while the camera just observed their behavior and reactions. The casting itself was incredible; Yûya Yagira that plays Akira has won the best actor award at Cannes, Hiei Kimura that plays the younger brother is an incredible young boy, he seemed to be completely unaware of the camera and just acted as any young boy his age would . Ayu Kitaura is perfect as the older, shy sister that essentially replaces the role of her mother, and finally the adorable Momoko Shimizu as the pet sister.
This is precisely what makes this film so difficult to watch; seeing these 4 adorable children go through a situation most of us can't even imagine, watching them struggle to have a normal life and being shunned by their peers. It's a wonderful study of how children behave faced with such a demanding situation on their own. A brilliant film that will undoubtedly get overlooked because of the "foreign" curse...
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This film is based on a true story from 1988, known as the "Affair of the four abandoned children of Sugamo"; 4 children (one brother aged 14 and 3 sisters aged 7,3 and 2) are abandoned by their mother and left to fend for themselves, which has tragic consequences. The mother had 5 children, but the youngest one died and seeing as how none of them existed officially, she wrapped the body in some plastic and put it in the closet of their apartment. After their mother leaves them to live with her new lover, the brother gets involved with some kids one of which ends up killing the youngest child. The brother then wrapped up the body and took it to some neighboring mountains to bury it in a shallow grave.
The film's story is less gruesome. It starts off well enough, you see a loving mother and her 4 children, Akira aged 12, older sister Kyoko, younger brother Shigeru and youngest sister Yuki. Things are not perfect, their mother has to work late so the kids are left to fend for themselves most of the time. But soon, the illusion starts to dissipate. We find out that none of the kids go to school, they are unregistered with the authorities and therefore must hide their existence, only Akira is allowed to leave the apartment to get groceries. The mother, a seemingly sweet woman, starts to show her imperfections, staying out late, sometimes leaving for days, leaving them some money and Akira to take care of the others. Then one day, she leaves to live with her new boyfriend, and never comes back...
What follows is one of the most harrowing viewing experiences I have witnessed. This is Grave of the fireflies multiplied by 50. During almost two and a half hours we see how the children slowly lose control over their life. The pacing of the film is brilliant, it spends a lot of time establishing the previous, semi-endurable situation where there mother appeared to be a very caring creature, then the gradual disillusionment, her departure and their initial response to it; hopeful as any child would be that their mother will return, they deal as well as they can, they stay within the rules their mother has set for them (never let others see you, don't go on the balcony, stay quiet)...and then eventually their childish nature prevails as we see the apartment gradually becoming dirtier, they slack off on their duties, forget the rules and break them. As desperation slowly sets in, they become more frustrated and their once perfect relationships deteriorate.
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This is precisely what makes this film so difficult to watch; seeing these 4 adorable children go through a situation most of us can't even imagine, watching them struggle to have a normal life and being shunned by their peers. It's a wonderful study of how children behave faced with such a demanding situation on their own. A brilliant film that will undoubtedly get overlooked because of the "foreign" curse...