Years ago I read the novel “Waiting” by Ha Jin and thought it was a masterpiece. Others complained that a story that spanned a character’s 18 years of waiting to marry the woman he loved moved too slowly to be tolerated; but I felt the book captured such a wait impeccably—captured the reality of it, the reality of life. I just watched the film “The Band’s Visit,” and I’m left feeling similarly satisfied. The movie, whose simple plot could be summed up in a sentence or two, settled me into a resounding quietude; my heartbeat, as I watched the film, slowed to the pace it acquires during sleep. In the quiet space of the film—with no noise ever underlying a characters’ speech, with no movement ever taking place outside the major action of a scene—a pervading sense of human loneliness comes to life. Delightfully, however, as the painful conversations of strangers trying to find a comfortable space between them slowly deepen, the solitude evoked is, by the end of the film, mitigated. Replacing it is a sense of camaraderie among people with little in common—and it is that development that let me leave the theater feeling elated.
I don’t recommend this film to everyone; I’m sure some will find it dull. But for those of you who enjoy a close study of humanity and appreciate the simple artistic touches that can conjure that up in an image, a timbre of voice, or a statement, this may be one of the more satiating films you see in a long while.
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1 comment:
I'll have to see this; I tend to like movies like that. I, too, LOVED "Waiting."
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