![]() The world of "The Nightingale" is crowded, leafy, rank and moldy. It's no "Shame," where Bergman thrusts you into chaos and trauma in such a visceral way it's impossible not to imagine yourself in the characters' shoes. This is no " Walkabout," Nicolas Roeg's film where two kids wander through the outback, dwarfed by huge spaces around them. The jungles and mountains crowd thickly against the camera, and there is barely a "view" in sight. Shot by Radek Ladczuk (who also shot "The Babadook"), "The Nightingale" was probably an extremely grueling shoot. Is there something there about violence being passed on through generations, soaking into the mud, staining the trees, poisoning the air? Whatever it is, and whatever Billy's role in it, doesn't really gel together. The way "The Nightingale" eventually goes is very intriguing, but it comes so late in the game there's something undeveloped about it, un-shaped, it's almost like a first draft. This is not a "rape revenge" movie, although Claire quivers with such blood-lust she does become a kind of avenging angel. Maybe that's deliberate, but it's tough going at almost two and a half hours. This is an example of the rigid handling of potential metaphors. ![]() Both Franciosi and Ganambarr are amazing, but Ganambarr is especially, considering this is his first credit! Billy revealing that his nickname is "the blackbird," like hers is "the nightingale," and that he, too, sings. ![]() The transformation of their relationship from adversaries to allies is the real trajectory of the film, although, as I mentioned, there's a plodding same-ness to these scenes, a circular quality. He has no patience with her whimsies or her racism, but warms to her a little bit when she tells him she's Irish: she hates the English as much as he does. For this she needs a guide through the inhospitable wilderness, and she hires Billy (Ganambarr), who needs the money and hates white people (they've killed his whole family). Kent has thought deeply about how to portray Claire's brutalization (there's one shot of the cross-thatched ceiling which is particularly effective).Įventually, Hawkins and two of his goons commit an unpardonable and horrifying act (one of many throughout "The Nightingale") and Claire, hellbent on revenge, chases after them on their journey overland to a nearby town. Kent shows a sensitivity to the issues with such scenes: so often rape is sexualized in film, so often the violence is eroticized, the trauma doesn't translate. Within the first 10 minutes of the film, Hawkins brutally rapes Claire. Hawkins forces her to sing for his soldiers, she's known as "the nightingale." Hawkins parades her out in front of his heckling ogling men. Claire is imprisoned by Lieutenant Hawkins ( Sam Claflin), who refuses to release her from bondage (it's three years overdue). While "The Nightingale" is obviously a labor of - if not love, then rage - for Kent, it left me cold, even with the two wonderful performances at its center from Aisling Franciosi and Baykali Ganambarr.įranciosi plays Claire, a young Irish convict in 1825 colonial-era Australia, when British troops are in the process of putting down rebellions, subduing the locals, perpetuating a genocide on the Aboriginal population. The script has this weird mix of rigidity and flabbiness, especially in the final sequences which are repetitive and stagnant. But somehow, when translated into visual form, the effect is deadening. ![]() Part of this feels appropriate to the lead character's PTSD she is traumatized beyond nuanced responses. Having no subtext flattens out the action, creating a same-ness in the scene progression. The violence is appropriate (and the film is appropriately difficult to watch). The issue with "The Nightingale" isn't its violence, nor its portrayal of rape. "The Nightingale" has already caused controversies at festivals, where people walked out, outraged at the multiple violent rape scenes. The film is filled with brutality from start to finish, over its grueling run-time ("The Nightingale" feels much longer than it is). Kent’s follow-up, "The Nightingale," is a completely different sort of film, with its own kind of horrors, different horrors, that of the ravages of colonialism, its violence, rape and murder. Kent's capacious imagination and compassion drove "The Babadook," with its focus on a mother and son doing battle with a supernatural-style "intruder." The film worked on multiple levels, buzzing with potent ambivalent metaphors for grief, insomnia, parenting (especially single parenting, as well as parenting a so-called "difficult" child). It played for months here in New York, a rare occurrence for an indie film from a first-time writer/director. It's been five years since Jennifer Kent's debut film, " The Babadook," which quickly took its place as one of the most effective horror movies in recent memory. ![]()
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