Instead this is a film that youngsters can enjoy, but one that treats them as a more mature and capable audience than other films give them credit for. The Place of No Words is a film that will appeal to children, but it isn’t the happy-go-lucky, silly, and bright affair that mainstream kids films have become accustomed to. This purity transforms into real pathos for the audience as it’s heartbreaking watching someone so young trying to come to terms with such complex ideas. Parents of little ones will recognise a lot of the exchanges, one in particular involving the Milky Way and Uranus feels especially pure. The interactions between him and his real-life parents feels entirely natural, almost uncomfortably so sometimes a strange voyeur sensation washes over the viewer on occasion. Those of us with children around the same age will know that they can be tricky to wrangle, and yet Bodhi is brilliant. Quite how Webber has managed to get such an honest and truthful performance out of someone so junior (Bodhi was three and a half during production) is impressive. The performance of the film however, is that of Bodhi Palmer. This closeness re-enforces the intimacy of the piece and makes the real world exchanges all the more impactful and emotional. Most of the supporting cast are made up of Webber and Palmer’s close friends and the love that everyone shares plays out beautifully on screen. His passion infects all those around him, and everyone, even those only in a scene or two, brings their A game. This is a film that clearly comes from a place deep within Webber, and his passion and vision is clear.
In this other world we get elements of Legend, Willow, and Dark Crystal, a nice swampy homage with a twist to Labyrinth, all coated in that serious tone of The Never Ending Story. The Henson company actually helped out on the film, creating one of the strange groups of creatures that the warriors encounter. There’s something very eighties family fantasy film about the look and feel to these segments that will invoke deep nostalgic pangs for those that grew up on a similar film diet. Webber grew up a fan of the Jim Henson company and that inspiration is apparent in every frame of the fantasy world setting. Yes, the real world segments are kept muted and naturalistic, but in the fantasy world portion, the film well and truly bursts into life.
Both stories play out parallel to one another and explore Bodhi’s internal and external interpretations of some very complex adult concepts.īy telling the narrative across two contrasting worlds Webber is able to let his creativity shine. Along the way they meet angels, witches, and an enchanting candyland. Here they are a father and son team of warriors who are on an epic quest. In the second world, the fantasy realm, we are introduced to a different version of both Bodhi and Mark. The family are struggling to cope in the wake of Mark’s terminal illness and an air of dread and despair permeates the air. In the first world, the ‘real world’, we meet young child Bodhi (played by Webber’s son Bodhi Palmer), his father Mark (played by Webber), and his mother Teresa (played by Webber’s wife and Bodhi’s mother, Teresa Palmer). The Place with No Words occurs within two distinct and different worlds.
0 kommentar(er)
