MOVIE REVIEW: 'Ten Canoes'


From the June 1 Oregonian ....




"Ten Canoes" sets its tone right away, opening with a magnificent helicopter shot of a primeval wetland. "Once upon a time, in a land far, far away…" the narrator starts to intone --

And then he bursts out laughing.

"Naw, I'm only joking," he continues. "But I am gonna tell you a story."

Soon, we meet indigenous hunters looking for eggs in an Australian swamp hundreds of years ago. Then this strange, beautiful little movie flashes back again -- to the beginning of time -- as one hunter tells his younger brother a rambling fable about marriage, magic, murder and tribal justice.

Despite dancing between a story and a story within a story, there's something simple and effortless about "Ten Canoes." Director Rolf de Heer and his all-Yolngu cast offer a take on tribal life that's warm, funny and powerfully alive. It's homespun mythology reminding you when it comes to basic human wants, we're never far out of the swamp.
_____

B-plus; 92 minutes; unrated.

'Ten Canoes' (The Oregonian, June 1, 2007)

Permalink


Posted: Fri - June 1, 2007 at 12:00 AM        

|

©