Nobody Knows (2004) directed by Hirokazu Kore-eda
A mother and son move into a new apartment carefully carrying heavy suitcases. When the coast is clear they open up the suitcases to reveal two younger children who take delight in their stealth. An older girl who cannot fit in a suitcase waits outside. There is a playful carefree attitude about this odd family, but something is clearly not right. What kind of mother would even think of sneaking two of her kids around in suitcases in the first place? Tragically, the type of mother to leave her children alone for weeks at a time until finally one trip, she doesn't come back at all. The four children are abandoned and left on their own for months without notice from anyone else. Sadly, this is based on a true story.
Nobody Knows is an achingly painful story of neglect, yet is also beautiful in the power and will of the children left behind. Akira, at just 12 years old, is now the head of the house and must take care of his three siblings, brother Shigeru, 7, and sisters Kyoko, 10, and Yuki, 5. Yuki is as cute as a button. Fearful of being split apart by child services and in the hope that their mother may one day return, the four of them live their secret lives in the apartment, shockingly without notice. When they run out of money and the rent is overdue and the gas and lights have been shut off, they still manage.
Much of the film is watching their idle lives. While other kids go to school, the kids spend their days locked up in the apartment like Anne Frank. The majority of the film takes place in the increasingly squalid apartment. Only Akira really goes outside as he tries to scrounge up food and money to survive. The moment that the four of them can all go outside to to the park is such a relief, perhaps more so to the viewer than the kids. At times the film is suffocating in its somberness.
They pick up a friend, a young girl around Akira's age. She hangs out with them and in these moments kids are allowed to be kids. But when she wants to help them out with money, she resorts to picking up an older man at a bar and then leaves with a handful of money. I am reminded of the heartbreaking scene in Chop Shop and we realize these are just kids living in a grown up world. There is only so much kids can do and you know it cannot end well, but you pray to find any glimmer of hope so that when the movie ends you know they will be okay. The ending is so brutally sad, but the kids are not broken; they continue to survive showing the power of the human spirit. Hirokazu Kore-eda, who directed one of my favorite films I've seen in this project, Still Walking, is wonderful at showing understated emotion and beautifully quiet filmmaking.
Grade: A
A mother and son move into a new apartment carefully carrying heavy suitcases. When the coast is clear they open up the suitcases to reveal two younger children who take delight in their stealth. An older girl who cannot fit in a suitcase waits outside. There is a playful carefree attitude about this odd family, but something is clearly not right. What kind of mother would even think of sneaking two of her kids around in suitcases in the first place? Tragically, the type of mother to leave her children alone for weeks at a time until finally one trip, she doesn't come back at all. The four children are abandoned and left on their own for months without notice from anyone else. Sadly, this is based on a true story.
Nobody Knows is an achingly painful story of neglect, yet is also beautiful in the power and will of the children left behind. Akira, at just 12 years old, is now the head of the house and must take care of his three siblings, brother Shigeru, 7, and sisters Kyoko, 10, and Yuki, 5. Yuki is as cute as a button. Fearful of being split apart by child services and in the hope that their mother may one day return, the four of them live their secret lives in the apartment, shockingly without notice. When they run out of money and the rent is overdue and the gas and lights have been shut off, they still manage.
Much of the film is watching their idle lives. While other kids go to school, the kids spend their days locked up in the apartment like Anne Frank. The majority of the film takes place in the increasingly squalid apartment. Only Akira really goes outside as he tries to scrounge up food and money to survive. The moment that the four of them can all go outside to to the park is such a relief, perhaps more so to the viewer than the kids. At times the film is suffocating in its somberness.
They pick up a friend, a young girl around Akira's age. She hangs out with them and in these moments kids are allowed to be kids. But when she wants to help them out with money, she resorts to picking up an older man at a bar and then leaves with a handful of money. I am reminded of the heartbreaking scene in Chop Shop and we realize these are just kids living in a grown up world. There is only so much kids can do and you know it cannot end well, but you pray to find any glimmer of hope so that when the movie ends you know they will be okay. The ending is so brutally sad, but the kids are not broken; they continue to survive showing the power of the human spirit. Hirokazu Kore-eda, who directed one of my favorite films I've seen in this project, Still Walking, is wonderful at showing understated emotion and beautifully quiet filmmaking.
Grade: A
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