8/3/2023 0 Comments Flick my bean meaningSaiva and Anja's basic, but brutal, way of life is thrust into our faces by way of some shock tactics of animalistic levels, in which an animal itself is on the wrong end of some harm. Unfolding in a large and ice cold location, which is wide enough to encompass Russian soldiers people whose names sound Nordic as well as characters whom might well be of either Kazakh or Tajik descent, although shot in Norway, the film covers the trials and experiences of a middle aged woman named Saiva (Yeoh) and her adopted younger daughter named Anja (Krusiec). Cracks are initially there, as if something is melting or falling apart and are apparent in the opening shot, while the condition of the glacier at the very end is representative of just how far things have come between the two people and the world around them as we witness those respective horrors and see the condition of the ice at the end. ![]() The manner in which Kapadia's film opens echoes the manner in which it closes, with a similar tracking shot over what appears to be the same spread of ice – both sequences are representative of both the society within the film, as well as the mother-daughter bond two people of that ilk share and experience throughout. Somewhat under-looked British director Asif Kapadia's 2007 film, Far North, opens with a rather exquisite tracking shot which sweeps across a very large, very open ice glacier that is shown to be split in several areas and thus, beginning to fall apart. Much of what happens in this film is shocking to the viewer's senses, but it so in keeping with the animal responses in nature that it says much about our concept of 'civilization'. Praise must go to Asif Kapadia for his tense direction of this thriller, but kudos are also in order for the extraordinary cinematography by Roman Osin and the appropriately eerie musical score by Dario Marianelli. Michelle Yeoh is astonishingly fine in this difficult role and Krusiec and Bean provide solid ensemble support. ![]() When Saiva witnesses the passion between the two people in her life, she reacts as a threatened animal and the horrors that follow echo across the frozen ice of her isolated life. As Yoki recovers, Anja's curiosity about love and men is heightened and soon Anja and Yoki are planning to strike out on their own. Saiva finds an injured and starving soldier Yoki (Sean Bean) who is likewise escaping from the marauding band, and brings him into her tent, nursing him to health, exchanging signs of friendship to a stranger that seems so natural yet so foreign to guarded Saiva. When danger approaches, the two women simply move on. ![]() Cast out from her tribe, Saiva has survived into adulthood accompanied by the young girl Anja (Michelle Krusiec) she has raised, living a simple existence in tents, dependent on any available food, and always in hiding from a strange pursuing army of soldiers: flashbacks show how Saiva had been physically abused by this strange band of wandering men. Saiva (Michelle Yeoh) was pronounced evil by a shaman who witnessed her birth: any person who comes near her will fall to harm. ![]() The film is as majestically beautiful as the story is terrifying. Director Asif Kapadia adapted this minimal dialogue screenplay with Tim Miller based on the story 'True North' by Sara Maitland, and even with the strong trio of actors, have managed to maintain the main character as the vast, natural, incomprehensibly difficult ice seas of the northern cap of the globe. FAR NORTH is a bleak, disturbing story about isolation, relationships and revenge.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |