Review of Nobody Knows (2004) by V H — 22 Feb 2005

[color=black][font=Verdana]So I walk up to the box office of the Music Box theatre and the ticket guy (who has previously referred to me as his "favorite customer", presumably because of the frequency of my visits, rather than my winning personality) remarks that he hasn?t seen me in a while and I tell him I was out of town. I go to the Music Box quite frequently because it's only a few blocks from my house and they show the sort of movies that I like. I almost always go alone. Because I like to. [/font][/color].

[color=black][font=Verdana]So while we're chitchatting, the ticket guy hands me back my pre-paid movie discount card which he's inadvertently punched twice, even though there's clearly only one of me. Realizing his error, he says, "Oh, I'm sorry. I just assumed you had a date". Then he breaks into raucous laughter. [/font][/color].

[color=black][font=Verdana]Umm.[/font][/color].

[color=black][font=Verdana]"Nobody Knows" begins with a mother named Keiko (just like the "Free Willy" whale) moving into a tiny Tokyo apartment with her four young kids. The oldest, a 12-year-old boy named Akira, is introduced to the landlord as the only other resident of the apartment. Meanwhile, a 4-year-old girl named Yuki an 8-ish boy named Shigeru are smuggled into the apartment in giant suitcases. Their 10-year-old sister, Kyoko, is brought in later under the cover of darkness. Apparently the lease has a "no shrieking" clause and the only way Keiko is able to rent the apartment is to hide the three youngest kids.[/font][/color].

[color=black][font=Verdana]That night, they all sit down to a dinner of brown instant noodles and Keiko explains the new house rules, designed to avoid being evicted: 1) No making any noise and 2) No going outside ? ever ? except for Akira, the only official kid. You'd expect the others might put up a fuss about such restrictions but they seem unfazed. Keiko makes it sound like playing secret hideaway is going to be a great big adventure and the kids seem to buy it.[/font][/color].

[color=black][font=Verdana]When Keiko goes off to work the next day, Akira is left in charge. He goes out and does the shopping and cooks dinner. Kyoko does the laundry with a passion, staring intently at the churning washer, then carefully hanging the clothes to dry. Yuki and Shigeru play quietly all day. None of the kids is allowed to go to school ? when Kyoko asks about it, Keiko tells her she wouldn?t like it ? but the oldest two have textbooks which they study on their own.[/font][/color].

[color=black][font=Verdana]The whole setup seems a little weird from the start, but Keiko seems like such a fun, free-spirited mother that I figured it was just her crazy temporary solution to keeping the family together until she could afford to move to a new apartment or something. But I was wrong. Keiko soon proves to be a selfish, immature wacko, acting more like Akira's daughter than his mother.[/font][/color].

[color=black][font=Verdana]She comes home late one night smelling of liquor and proceeds to wake up all of the kids to make them play with her. Akira obligingly puts on the kettle to make tea, as Keiko paints Kyoko's fingernails and prattles on about the children's fathers ? apparently they're all different men. Keiko later announces to Akira that she's in looove and this time the guy?s really going to marry her and take care of them and move them all to a great big house. Akira's response is a weary "here we go again" look. [/font][/color].

[color=black][font=Verdana]The next thing you know, Keiko says she has to go out of town for a while, supposedly for work, hands Akira an envelope full of yen, and tells him he?s in charge. When he accuses her of being selfish, she replies ?What about MY happiness?? And she?s off. Things go okay for a while. Akira keeps going out and doing the shopping and cooking and taking care of his younger siblings. Kyoko keeps OCD?ing over the laundry. The littlest kids manage to use their indoor voices most of the time. They all seem to settle into a happy little parent-free rhythm. [/font][/color].

[color=black][font=Verdana]Other than having no income, Akira is a much better parent than his mother was. In addition to his normal household duties, he tries to do what he can to make the others happy. He occasionally splurges on little boxes of chocolates for his sibs during his forays into the outside world. And on Yuki?s fifth birthday, which surely her mother wouldn?t miss, but does, he sneaks her out of the apartment as a special treat. [/font][/color].

[color=black][font=Verdana]But time keeps passing and still no Keiko. Akira starts running out of money. The power gets shut off. Then the water. Akira rescinds the ?no going out? rule so they can all go to the park and use the toilet and wash up in the fountain. Kyoko even attempts to do laundry there, hanging the clothes on playground equipment to dry. [/font][/color].

[color=black][font=Verdana]The initially clean, well dressed kids start looking rattier and rattier in each successive scene. Akira?s bangs hang in his eyes. Their clothes are all dirty and tattered. Yuki?s crayons are now just little colored nubs. [/font][/color].

[color=black][font=Verdana]A girl who befriends Akira suggests that he seek help from the authorities, but he doesn?t want to split up the family as apparently happened during one of Keiko?s previous disappearing acts. At one point, the landlady walks into the now squalid, kid-filled apartment and it appears that the jig is up. But rather than breathing a sigh of relief that the kids would finally get the help they needed, I found myself hoping that she didn?t report them. It was only later that I realized that my thinking didn?t make any sense, but I think this shows how successful the film was at making me see things from the kids? point of view.[/font][/color].

[color=black][font=Verdana]Though this story might seem a little far-fetched, it?s actually based loosely on a notorious real life incident which took place in Tokyo in 1988. A single mother abandoned her four kids in an apartment building for six months without any of the neighbors realizing they were even there. In the film version, some adults, like the owner of the shop where Akira buys his groceries, do notice his transformation from spiff-boy to ragamuffin; they just choose not to stick their necks out to intervene. [/font][/color].

[color=black][font=Verdana]Even though the story itself is pretty grim, this movie is mostly upbeat. It?s not at all the sentimental tripe it might have been had it fallen into the hands of Steven Spielberg or someone of his ilk. It?s a very realistic portrayal of the lives of kids ? not abandoned kids in particular ? just kids. [/font][/color].

[color=black][font=Verdana]The director filmed it chronologically from autumn through summer. Not only do we observe the change of seasons during Akira?s trips to the market, but we actually see the kids grow up a bit physically during the course of the film. The change is particularly noticeable in Akira. He gets a little taller, sprouts some fuzz on his upper lip, and his voice even changes, a la Peter Brady, but without the lame song. "When it?s time to change, you?ve got to rearrange." Rearrange WHAT?, I?d like to know.[/font][/color].

[color=black][font=Verdana]Anyway. I?m giving this film a strong 8, not a grade-inflation 8. It?s the best film I?ve seen since ?Sideways?, which was almost four months ago. Though I rarely see movies twice, I?d actually like to see this again at some point, in part because a lot of the action is so subtle, I occasionally found myself distracted by my own confusion. The fact that I can?t remember names, can?t recognize faces, and tend to zone out whenever there?s an extended period with no dialogue didn?t help things. But still. It?s a very good movie.[/font][/color].