The Goddess of 1967 (2000)

"Goddess" stands for French "Déesse", the nickname of Citroën DS, the name of a famous car designed in the fifties. A young and well-situated Japanese man is dreaming of such a car, and one... See full summary »

Director:

Clara Law

Writers:

Eddie Ling-Ching Fong, Clara Law

Stars:

Rose Byrne, Rikiya Kurokawa, Nicholas Hope

4 wins & 3 nominations.

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Rose Byrne	...	B.G.
Rikiya Kurokawa	...	J.M.
Nicholas Hope	...	Grandpa
Elise McCredie	...	Marie
Tim Richards	...	Drummer Boy
Bree Beadman	...	B.G. aged 9
Satya Gumbert	...	Marie aged 9
Tina Bursill	...	Esther
Dominic Condon	...	Mr. Hughes
Tim McGarry	...	Detective
John Boxer	...	Barman
Harry Lawrence	...	Old Man in Bar
Masao Ishiguro	...	Noodle Man
Stephanie Daniel	...	Radio Announcer (voice)
Jean-Pierre Mignon	...	D.S. Sergeant (voice)

Storyline

"Goddess" stands for French "Déesse", the nickname of Citroën DS, the name of a famous car designed in the fifties. A young and well-situated Japanese man is dreaming of such a car, and one fine day he finds an offering on the net. He calls the seller (a man living in Australia), they agree upon the price and so he travels to Australia in order to buy the car. But when he reaches his destination, there's chaos all around: The seller as well as his wife lay dead in their house and a 17 year old girl lets him in and offers him something to eat. He walks out with horror but then comes back because he forgot to ask about the car... The girl lets him see the car, and then they start a 5 day trip through the outback, and, at the same time, a trip back in time into the early youth of the girl and into her family's chronicle.

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Plot Keywords:

car | australia | japan | australian outback | murder | 

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Genres:

Comedy | Drama | Romance

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Details

Country:

Australia

Language:

English Japanese

Release Date:

25 April 2001 (Australia)

Also Known As:

Der Japaner und die Göttin

Company Credits

Production Co:

New South Wales Film & Television Office

Technical Specs

Runtime:

119 min

Sound Mix:

Stereo

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Did You Know?

Connections

References Le Samouraï (1967)

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Soundtracks

"Walk Don't Run"
Written by John Smith
Performed by The Ventures

User Reviews

Visually stylish but vacuous road movie

The Goddess of the title is a Citroen DS which a young Japanese Man agrees to buy over the internet. When he arrives in Australia to get it, the owner is dead and he embarks on a journey into the outback with a blind girl for a reason which is never clear, even when it is made apparent at the end. The result is probably best described as contemporary Art House. The film substitutes a vacuous but street smart style for content, and bizarre quirkiness for characterisation. Its flashbacks into the deprived and abused past of the blind girl are bleak, but otherwise there is little story and the two main characters appear almost lost in the vast landscapes they are travelling through. Could Australian movies please get over their current pretentious pre-occupation with mad and irrational characters and meaningless storylines?

The votes on this site, and some press reviews, suggest that some people enjoyed this film. I suspect they are the same people who enjoyed performance art during the 1990s and Andy Warhol movies in the 1980s. Clara Law succeeds in striking a style, but tells us nothing we want to know. Even the Australian outback, which dominates the film, gets a raw deal: the locations appear random, the colour in the outdoor scenes is fashionably bleached, and the whole thing was shot during the wettest summer for years.