Shinji Sômai's Moving is a revelatory coming of age story that traverses the familiar narrative archetype of divorce, and the effect it can have on a young impressionable mind, with such an attuned understanding of the psyche of a child. Formally creative and dramatically compelling, Moving is a film uninterested in placing blame or creating any false action-reaction binary as it navigates the destabilizing terrain of a fractured family. Instead, it astutely transfixes on the effect such change has on a young mind which can't possibly grapple with the complexities of the world and the disparate forces of individual action that make up our collective experience. Conceptually speaking, this is the story of a child who is forced to navigate the fractured spaces of her world to find solace and eventually, inner peace. A lesser filmmaker could easily fall victim to melodrama or saccharine modes of manipulation yet Shinji Sômai masterfully avoids such juvenile conceptions. There is an unwillingness to place blame on one parent or the other, and Sômai routinely repositions the audience's perceptions as the narrative progresses, showing a keen intent to make sure they can't fixate or place blame on any of these characters. The film is extremely well-layered and incredibly mature, and in Moving's finale, Shinji Sômai delivers one of the most impressive cinematic sequences ever committed to celluloid. Blue-hued moonlight enunciates the profound sadness lying beneath this child's facade of invulnerability, with her journey into the night alone taking on a metaphysical quality in which impressionist imagery signals transcendence. The barriers between the metaphysical and material world begin to blur, and young Ren's journey into the natural world, untouched by man-made material obstructions, signals a transformative moment for this young woman whose been in search of peace for a long time. A sense of catharsis and acceptance is reached in the film's most stunning visual sequence, one in which Sômai deploys surrealist strategies to beautifully capture the moment of emotional reconciliation, one that comes from within young Ren as she finally realizes her parents fractured relationship is not within her control nor a consequence of her actions. One of those films that makes me feel inadequate as a writer given my inability to articulate just how special this film is. It's an exceptional film - astute, incisive, and emotionally poignant from beginning to end, being unquestionably amongst the greatest coming-of-age stories of all time
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorLove of all things cinema brought me here. Archives
June 2023
|