The Goddess of 1967
A Japanese man searches the Internet to find his dream car, a 1967 Citroen DS (Deesse/Goddess) - the same make of car driven by Alain Delon in Le Samouraï. Traveling all the way to Australia to purchase it, he finds the seller dead. A gorgeous 17-year-old blind girl with a dark, haunting past (the amazing Rose Byrne, Marie-Antoinette, Wicker Park) volunteers to take him to the proper owner. This unlikely couple embark on a strange and erotic journey into the arid Australian desert, populated by abandoned mining towns, stark, desolate landscapes as the two uncover mystery, adventure, tragedy and love.
Member Reviews
Baby you can drive my car - luminol
Art Film. Three characters head out into the Australian desert. A Blind girl (BG). A Japanese Man (JM) who sets out to buy the embodiment of classic cool ... a movie prop. And lastly, Alain Delon's car from "Le samouraï": The 1967 Citroën DS (get it? D-S = Déesse = Goddess)
If you like the doe-eyed Rose Byrne---you're going to love this film. She's proving to be a master of projecting vulnerability and flawless accents. In this film she's an Aussie, born and raised. ;) Nice images of the opaque Australian outback where heaven and earth at times, look oddly inverted. The filmmakers have hit the nail right on the head with the fractured narrative which matches BG's psychic state and the abrupt transitions of plot echo her blindness.
What's interesting is the psychic turmoil of the BG's is the mirror image of the confident and wealthy young technocrat from Japan. But instead of tragedy splintering his well being into a thousand pieces. The world of instant gratification in which He lives and breathes, has created it's own demons. The lacerations of which He also suffers blindly.
Ultimately, Grace is kind of unattainable. The car is worthless to both of them. BG may even own the car already, but she needs a chauffeur and someone to narrate the world around her. It could be her sanctuary or her prison. JM lives in a high rise apartment tower and rides the bullet train. The streets are only there to provide the city with parking revenue. Ultimately, it's up to the viewer to fill in the blanks to some the questions still left unanswered at the end of the story.Rose Byrne Is Amazing, So Is Kurokawa - whynot2
I really enjoyed this little movie. I acknowledge that many won’t. It is a tasty little snippet, centering on building an awareness and empathy characters, choosing to display all of the main players as quite human, and therefore at once attracting empathy if not sympathy, and at the same time, alarming and at times repulsive. Rose Byrne is an absolute scene-stealer, but both Byrne and the male protagonist, Rikiya Kurokawa bite into their characters, delivering characterizations that ring true while demonstrating an offbeat combination of optimism, desperation, strength and vulnerability that I found captivating.
The high quality…very high quality performances…are joined by wonderfully atmospheric sound and cinematography. One could argue that using the Australian natural environment approaches cliché status, but I felt that in ‘Goddess’, they framed the characters very nicely, complementing our increasing ‘knowledge’ of them. To some extent, the movie plays like a series of vignettes, each quite integral on its own…dare I say it? Not unlike a very good music video. A few scenes are apt to stick with me longer than the rest of the movie: Kurokawa’s character ‘teaching’ Byrne’s blind character to dance being one of those.
And it’s there that weakness exists: the story seems to exist primarily as a vehicle to contain the performances; it is presented in a non-linear fashion and is actually somewhat hard to follow. The story just isn’t as strong as the characterization, and, for those so predisposed, it’s not hard to find points that stretch credibility. There are also a few loose ends left hanging: at times we’re left to wonder…what did transpire between points in time A and B? So, if you’re unhappy with a measure of surrealism (about 1 ½ teaspoons, I’d say), you might be more inclined to leave the viewing with a “Yeah, right…” than a “Wow”.
I gave it an 87 out of 100…
Member Reviews
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Baby you can drive my car - luminol
Art Film. Three characters head out into the Australian desert. A Blind girl (BG). A Japanese Man (JM) who sets out to buy the embodiment of classic cool ... a movie prop. And lastly, Alain Delon's car from "Le samouraï": The 1967 Citroën DS (get it? ...Rose Byrne Is Amazing, So Is Kurokawa - whynot2
I really enjoyed this little movie. I acknowledge that many won’t. It is a tasty little snippet, centering on building an awareness and empathy characters, choosing to display all of the main players as quite human, and therefore at once attracting empathy ...