Silent City -- Film Review #2

Silent City – Film Review #2

Threes Anna’s Silent City is a masterpiece. The Dutch movie explores feelings of loneliness and isolation as Rosa (Laurence Roothooft) journeys to Tokyo to learn the art of filleting fish from legendary Master Kon (Ayako Kobayashi). The film is similar to Sofia Coppola’s Lost in Translation as it explores many of the same themes except ennui. However, Silent City centers on one character that is thrown into a world of confusion and language barriers; whereas, in Lost in Translation two characters are able to feel the same emotions and bond over them.

Rosa uproots her life when she quits her job in the Netherlands in order to move to Tokyo to train with Master Kon and his staff. The film begins as Rosa struggles to find Master Kon’s kitchen and is blatantly ignored because she does not speak Japanese. The training classes are difficult for Rosa as the instructors use few words and many of their gestures are simply lost in translation. Initially, Rosa must share a small room with Aki (Kenichi Sano) who speaks very little English, but eventually the two form a bond by the end of the film.

Little action occurs in the film because Anna intended for the movie to touch on human beings’ two biggest fears: loneliness and isolation. The viewer is able to feel Rosa’s deepest emotions and Anna achieves this through still shots of the landscape as well as fast paced action shots where Rosa appears lifeless. Perhaps Anna best achieves these emotions in a scene where Rosa misses her train back to Tokyo and cannot find anyone who speaks English in the train station. Thousands of people are in the train station as they hustle to and from various trains. Rosa asks many of them if they speak English but they cannot understand her and simply ignore her. She loudly screams “Does anybody speak English?” and almost has a mental breakdown because she feels so isolated.

After her mental breakdown, Rosa fights with Aki about why she left her at the train station. Aki does not understand why Rosa is so angry because, once more, she does not understand much English. Rosa moves out of her temporary living arrangement and into her own house. However, she needs money to pay the bills and enlists Aki’s help in trying to find a job. In the interim, there are many scenes in a Japanese community bathroom with Rosa still trying to figure out her place in Japan. She goes home alone at night feeling alone and finds a small plant in her house that she begins to water and take care of. The plant symbolizes Rosa and how she grows during her experience in Tokyo. The growth of the plant eventually stops and this parallels Rosa’s acceptance of the Japanese culture and her acceptance of being alone.

Aki helps Rosa get a job at a nightclub called Mama Su where the girls must entertain the Japanese businessmen through drinking and talking – maybe even going home with them. Rosa sits in the club lifelessly as she cannot understand what the men are saying nor have a conversation with them. She meets one man at the club who clearly gets the wrong impression of her as both of them cannot understand the other and he misinterprets her phrases and actions.

The movie centers on fish – literally and metaphorically. Rosa journeys to Tokyo to learn about fish, but she also is a “fish out of water” while she is in Japan. She has many dreams about being dissected on a carving table as if she were a fish and also dreams about living underwater with people just like her. Rosa empathizes with the fish and ultimately becomes connected with them (metaphorically) at the end of the movie.

After missing her train, Rosa sees the Japanese businessman she has talked to at the club. He offers her a ride, but she mistakenly believes the ride to be back to her house. He takes her home with him and attempts to have sex with her but she refuses and fights him off. Master Kon finds her the next day outside of the kitchen near a pond in the backyard. Rosa has learned how to connect with the fish and catches one with her bare hands. Master Kon sees this and she gains his respect. This scene represents her assimilation into Japanese culture and the respect she has gained with its people.

The movie is terrific and touches on innermost emotions that are far too often ignored in most movies. Silent City has a simple plot but is filled with heart and soul not found in many movies.

Credit Block:

Directed by: Threes Anna

Written by: Threes Anna

Produced by: KeyFilm, Hanneke Niens & Hans de Wolf

Production Company: KeyFilm, in co-production with Samsa Film, Skyline Entertainment and AVRO

Cast: Laurence Roothooft, Ayako Kobayashi, Kenichi Sano