Review of Ten Canoes (2006) by Daniel T — 31 Jan 2008

I am not a big fan of narrative voice-overs. Most of the time, it is a sign of lazy storytelling, even in good movies like Little Children, Leaving Las Vegas, The Royal Tenenbaums and Goodbye Lenin. If I want to hear a narrator recite a story, I would have chosen to read a book instead.

Sometimes, however, it works beautifully, giving the film a sub-textual dimension, like in Dogville, Annie Hall, Goodfellas, Y Tu Mama Tambien, and now, Ten Canoes. That is, if you watch the aboriginal dialogue version, which gives it an authentic and mythological touch, as if a fable is being told.

As complex as the story initially seems to be (with 2 stories told concurrently and an assortment of characters whose names I cannot remember), there is tremendous confidence and clarity in its telling.

I got sucked in right from the start.