Japan,
1995, 90 min
Shown in 1996
CREDITS
- dir
-
Genjiro Arato
- prod
-
Miyoshi Kikuchi, Yasuhiko Sawada
- scr
-
Goro Haiki
- cam
-
Akiko Ashizawa
- editor
-
Akira Suzuki
- cast
-
Mami Nakamura, Kaori Momoi, Mochio Akiyama, Yoshio Horada
- source
-
Film-Makers Inc.
OTHER
Based on an autobiographical manga (comic book), which had a huge success in Japan bearing the title Father Fucker (in English!), The Girl of the Silence is an emotional, gorgeous period piece with quirky surreal touches set in late-1960s Nagasaki. The story centers around 14-year-old Shizuko (Mami Nakamura), whose painful coming of age is portrayed realistically yet with a wistful, sweet beauty. Shizuko dreams of drawing manga in Tokyo to escape her life of poverty and loneliness. Shizuko’s father has left the family, and her mother (Kaori Momoi)—who is desperate for money—takes in an icy, brutal lover (Michio Akiyama) who insists on being called “Father.” He is obsessed with having a “high-class” family and forbids Shizuko to draw her “low-class” manga, which he calls “trash.” When Father discovers that Shizuko has been impregnated by a schoolmate, he inflicts a brutal punishment. Her mother, unable to support the family without him, responds with drunken apathy. In self-defense, Shizuko’s creates manga characters who are gentle and caring. The androgynous young men she draws are a combination of her lost father and a stronger version of herself; they resemble the kind of feminine (often homosexual) male characters that populate shoujo manga (girls’ comics) in Japan. Shizuko’s manga ultimately give her the courage she needs to stand up for herself. The Girl of the Silence powerfully juxtaposes Shizuko’s delicate fantasies with dark episodes of domestic violence. It makes for a potent combination.This is the first film directed by Genjiro Arato, who produced several films of Seijun Suzuki, including Zigeunerweisen (1980) and Junji Sakamoto’s Knockout, which Donald Richie introduced to SFIFF viewers in 1990.
—Annalee Newitz
FACTOID #7
Governor Pat Brown welcomed the crowd at Opening Night of the Festival October 30, 1963. Other attendees included George Peppard, Willie Mays and the governor’s wife Bernice; it also happened to be the couple’s 33rd wedding anniversary.
