★★☆☆☆
30 October 2019
A movie review of EARTHQUAKE BIRD. |
Director: Wash Westmoreland (COLETTE, STILL ALICE, THE LAST OF ROBIN HOOD).
Starring: Alicia Vikander, Naoki Kobayashi, Riley Keough, Kiki Sukezane, Jack Huston.
“Be careful, I understand everything,” Lucy Fly (Alicia Vikander)
EARTHQUAKE BIRD is the kind of film where the more you think about it, the less competent it appears. The movie is a throwback to the 1980s/90s spicy thrillers that seem to have mostly died out. Perhaps due to the prevalence of sex and nudity on television from THE SOPRANOS [1999-2007] onwards? Do you need nudity and sex to create an atmosphere of lustful tension? No, but English language steamy movies are all but extinct. Am not sure anyone will openly admit to mourning them.
Starring: Alicia Vikander, Naoki Kobayashi, Riley Keough, Kiki Sukezane, Jack Huston.
“Be careful, I understand everything,” Lucy Fly (Alicia Vikander)
EARTHQUAKE BIRD is the kind of film where the more you think about it, the less competent it appears. The movie is a throwback to the 1980s/90s spicy thrillers that seem to have mostly died out. Perhaps due to the prevalence of sex and nudity on television from THE SOPRANOS [1999-2007] onwards? Do you need nudity and sex to create an atmosphere of lustful tension? No, but English language steamy movies are all but extinct. Am not sure anyone will openly admit to mourning them.
Tokyo, 1989. Two things peak the interest about EARTHQUAKE BIRD: The Japanese setting, and actor Alicia Vikander. The former still does not feel photographed enough by other cultures making movies, and those continually portray the country as alien exoticism. The latter is such a charismatic presence that even in lacklustre fare, she holds the audience’s attention.
Bob (Jack Huston) talks of Japan being a second chance for people, but does not explain why. Aren’t most moves to another nation a wiping of the slate? The danger of culture clash cinema is that they too often tread into lazy stereotypes (e.g. LOST IN TRANSLATION [2003]). EARTHQUAKE BIRD has the reserved Scandinavian, the reserved Japanese, the arrogant Brit, the boisterous American. Yawn. Lucy and Lily Bridges (Riley Keough) even meet in a karaoke bar.
Lucy is a translator, and seen translating BLACK RAIN [1989] from director Ridley Scott, who is also executive producer here. An amusing little in-joke. Originally from Sweden, the lead has been in Japan for three years, two months. Lucy is precise. She says death follows her, but is she an avenging angel? She has a tragic backstory. It feels incomplete, needing more fleshing out. A few sentences and images do hint at the seismic personality impact: When you’re a victim and haven’t processed your victimhood. We see brittle confidence, but Lucy is surprisingly deeply lonely.
She moved to be alone, and did not realise the impact until meeting mysterious photographer Teiji (Naoki Kobayashi). He photographs women as a device of seduction. Didn’t (the overrated) BLOW-UP [1966] already deal with murder, paranoia, sensuality, and photography? Teiji is meant to be alluring, but comes across as creepy. Is the film suggesting we are drawn to the unconventional, and when ensnared we then desire them to be conventional? If taken further, when we are getting bored, we want them to be unconventional again.
Lily’s disappearance becomes a homicide investigation. Lucy holds her own in a police interrogation without recourse to a lawyer. Showing how sharp she can be. The police interview is the structure. And then flashbacks within the interview. Is Lucy meant to be an unreliable narrator? The movie is sloppy. One wonders if the uneven perspective was intentional or accident?
The title is some twee reference to a bird that sings after an earthquake. There are tremors in the runtime. Not disaster movie level, but there perhaps for metaphorical purposes. EARTHQUAKE BIRD is superficial, from the exploration of guilt to the exploration of obsession. It seems to have nothing to say about women going missing. There is a difference between story unpredictability (rare and rewarding), and randomness (illogical and unsatisfying). EARTHQUAKE BIRD joins THE LAST JEDI [2017] in the latter category.