Silence

[GeneChing]

[Jimbo]

I want to see this.

Besides the fact it's gotten some very good reviews, it was (at least mostly) filmed in Taiwan (doubling for Japan), my former 'second home'. I can't recall offhand any other major movie by a top American director, starring top actor(s), that was filmed in Taiwan. Reportedly, at least some of it was filmed on the sets of Taipei's Chinese Culture and Movie Center, where countless independent 1970s and 1980s-era kung fu movies were filmed. It was basically Taiwan's answer to Hong Kong's Shaw Brothers studios. Even some of the Shaw Brothers and Golden Harvest movies were filmed there.

[GeneChing]

At first, I felt it was a Kurosawa homage, but that's only the early scenes. This is a long rumination about faith and culture. It's heavy-handed Christianity was just way too preachy. Oh those evil Japanese and their Buddhist ways. Like with Captain Philips (2013), I found myself rooting for the evil Buddhists - not so much the torture part but ideologically. Did the lead villain really have to be so buck-toothed and whiny like Mr. Moto? There's some gritty bits and some really gorgeous shots, and lots of fog and steam. I would have like more theological discussion and for it to be maybe half an hour shorter. The ending when then narrator switched was dragged out too much and really predictable. The baddies all had swords and there's one good chop. It had moments of thought provocation but it needed more.

Japan is depicted as very muddy. There were a lot of allusions to how Japan was a 'swamp' where the 'tree' of Christianity could not take root, which made me think "So Buddhism is a banyan tree?" which is a great misconception. It's often said that Buddha was enlightened under a banyan, but he was enlightened under a bodhi tree, which is a kind of fig, which has this weird parallel to the notion that the apple of wisdom in the Garden of Eden was really a fig... at which point I realized I was projecting waaaaay more than Scorcese put into the film.

I can't wait until Scorcese's Grateful Dead documentary comes out.

Here's a footnote on this film, based on a deleted post I found in the archives about this that I just found when doing a search.

Tragic Death On Taiwan Set Of Martin Scorsese-Directed ‘Silence’
by Mike Fleming Jr
January 28, 2015 9:35pm


Martin Scorsese Silence

EXCLUSIVE: A tragic death and several injuries occurred in Taiwan today during pre-production on the Martin Scorsese-directed adaptation of the Shusako Endo novel Silence. I have a statement from a spokesperson for the film that will star Liam Neeson, Andrew Garfield and Adam Driver.

“Today there was an unfortunate accident at CMPC Studios in Taiwan, where the Martin Scorsese film, Silence, is in pre-production. An existing structure on the CMPC backlot had been deemed unsafe by the production, and accordingly a 3rd-party contractor was hired to reinforce and make it safe prior to any production-related work commencing in this building. Sadly, during this process, the ceiling collapsed, resulting in the death of one of the contractor’s employees and injuries to two others. Everyone is in shock and sorrow and expresses their deepest concern and sympathy to the families of the individual who died and those who were injured.”

[Jimbo]

Thanks for the review, Gene.

I'm a little disappointed to hear that the movie is too preachy. A little-known fact is that Portuguese traded in Japanese slaves in the 16th and 17th centuries. So as far as who was more 'civilized' during that time period is questionable.

My main interest in seeing it, silly as it sounds, is *where* the movie was filmed.