I will not give this film a rating. I don't know how to rate a film like this. But I feel compelled to write it a comment. It has been severely misjudged here by many people who are desperately in effort to make film critics out of themselves.
When I tried to read comments on this film, I saw "Soooo Slowwwwww" and "White Man Saves Asian Women Again". That did not feel so good, but I hope those who love this film or want to know about it read my comment too.
The beauty of this film is not in the advancement of story, or in dialogue, but in visual narration accompanied by very well chosen musical score. If you have read many classic novels written in the good old days, the pattern of story development will not look radically unique to you.
Hervé Joncour is a man living in a remote village in France in middle nineteenth century. People are out of work there, they have not seen much of industry if any at all. Only a small scale revolution could save the village from extinction. And a man with wild but not-too-impractical ideas came to the village one day and things were never the same again for people there. He renovated the silk-mill. But he needed silk eggs entirely untouched by the unknown disease. He sent Hervé first to Africa and then to Japan, away from his sweetheart. Hervé became quite an adventurer and procurer. And then he met "The Girl" in the world of mysticism and snow.
The story that was advancing till now in a pace swifter than anything suddenly became extremely slow developing. The girl's gaze, her eyes, her lips, her breath, her hair lock, her silence, her kneeling pose, her slow turn, way of looking back, the way she bathed, the way she walked, the way she touched, and the wind, the mist, the snow, the sky that lights up before everywhere else, everything became an obsession to him. But he could not speak Japanese. He could not find out if she felt the same for him. Then after one visit, he received a note. He could not ask someone to translate it there, so he had to come back to have it translated later. He found out, it said "Come back, or I shall die."
Silk is not a story that gives you adrenaline rush. It is not really a classic either. The director's orientation was rather one sided. He showed some things in great detail, leaving some things ridiculously out of focus. But he showed perfectly what he wanted to show. The curiosity, the undeniable pull toward the heart of a woman. The little he knew, the bigger became his obsession. They say, a woman's heart is an ocean of mysteries. He was very close to the shore, yet it proved to be too far afterwards.
Would I recommend this film? Hard to say. It is definitely not a feel good film. But yes, it is a work of art. Those who take deep pleasure in relishing cinema, this is for them. But if you are looking for a good time, a nice time, an easy time, and you are renting this one, don't come here afterwards to blame it on the film. Art is made for art's sake. Appreciate it, or don't, but show respect.
When I tried to read comments on this film, I saw "Soooo Slowwwwww" and "White Man Saves Asian Women Again". That did not feel so good, but I hope those who love this film or want to know about it read my comment too.
The beauty of this film is not in the advancement of story, or in dialogue, but in visual narration accompanied by very well chosen musical score. If you have read many classic novels written in the good old days, the pattern of story development will not look radically unique to you.
Hervé Joncour is a man living in a remote village in France in middle nineteenth century. People are out of work there, they have not seen much of industry if any at all. Only a small scale revolution could save the village from extinction. And a man with wild but not-too-impractical ideas came to the village one day and things were never the same again for people there. He renovated the silk-mill. But he needed silk eggs entirely untouched by the unknown disease. He sent Hervé first to Africa and then to Japan, away from his sweetheart. Hervé became quite an adventurer and procurer. And then he met "The Girl" in the world of mysticism and snow.
The story that was advancing till now in a pace swifter than anything suddenly became extremely slow developing. The girl's gaze, her eyes, her lips, her breath, her hair lock, her silence, her kneeling pose, her slow turn, way of looking back, the way she bathed, the way she walked, the way she touched, and the wind, the mist, the snow, the sky that lights up before everywhere else, everything became an obsession to him. But he could not speak Japanese. He could not find out if she felt the same for him. Then after one visit, he received a note. He could not ask someone to translate it there, so he had to come back to have it translated later. He found out, it said "Come back, or I shall die."
Silk is not a story that gives you adrenaline rush. It is not really a classic either. The director's orientation was rather one sided. He showed some things in great detail, leaving some things ridiculously out of focus. But he showed perfectly what he wanted to show. The curiosity, the undeniable pull toward the heart of a woman. The little he knew, the bigger became his obsession. They say, a woman's heart is an ocean of mysteries. He was very close to the shore, yet it proved to be too far afterwards.
Would I recommend this film? Hard to say. It is definitely not a feel good film. But yes, it is a work of art. Those who take deep pleasure in relishing cinema, this is for them. But if you are looking for a good time, a nice time, an easy time, and you are renting this one, don't come here afterwards to blame it on the film. Art is made for art's sake. Appreciate it, or don't, but show respect.