Canopy

This is a boring and depressing film that you could spare to yourself. There is no action, no adventure, not even a recognizable plot. There is this endless display of green tropical plants that perhaps, being you a fervent botanist, could catch your attention.

If you, just like me, feel that once started a movie you must finish it, you'll probably end like me, hoping that the two characters get soon killed or whatever, just to put an end to your and their suffering.

I'm not joking: you won't forget, not even for a while, that what you are watching is just a movie (a bad one) and that those that you see are actors. I'm sure that many of you have done better with your holiday movies.

Be prepared, this movie is about 95% dialogue free. What little there is, is in Chinese or Japanese. The remaining sounds are of the beautifully filmed backdrop, the jungle and all its encompassing wildlife. Oh, I almost forgot the gunfire in the distance. Even though there is minimal talking, as another reviewer mentioned, this film is best viewed at night in a dark room with the volume nice and loud. This way you really feel as though you're a part of what's taking place with the sounds of the jungle encompassing you, if you have a nice home theater set-up. Having taken place in 1942, I was expecting a "period film", but this really could have taken place anytime since then. This film was nothing like I expected but I was in no way disappointed. It was beautifully filmed, acted and leaves you thinking. I highly recommend it to anyone!

I watched this in the dark with high volume. Which I would advise everybody else to do so also, as this movie is all about it's sounds, feel and atmosphere.

I wasn't expecting much from this movie as I had not heard of it, however I was pleasantly surprised.

The movie is set with one main character who is crash landed in a foreign destination in the midst of the second world war.

The movie is eerie, the scenery is beautiful and the character is very well played. The constant build up of suspension leaves you driven to wondering what will happen next, and although nothing much appears to happen by way of extremities, there is a great awareness of the solitude and danger which could always be nearby...

Admittedly this is not the type of block buster war movie you would put against such movies of recent showing extreme heroism and patriotism, it is not the same, and for these reasons above, I think 8/10 is warranted.. Enjoy

This movie is proof that an 80 minute film can be just as long, boring and pretentious as any 3 hour plus epic costume Hollywood picture. The movie's budget is so low that it can not afford to show us any real battle, and for a war film, that is a big minus. To compensate what it can not show us, the filmmakers over-fill the soundtrack with constant gunfire, explosions, bombings, airplanes flying over heard, etc. It was exhausting after a while.

Of course, none of those aforementioned things would matter in the least if the movie had characters we cared about at all, or a story worth giving a damn about. Every single Close Up shot in the movie feels fake, and the director holds them for way too long before cutting away, making them feel even more disingenuous. The characters have no personality, no soul to them, so we are forced to watch two wooden people for what felt like an eternity, both of do as much overacting as possible for roles that require very minimal dialogue. The movie is simply over directed; everything in it feels fake, especially the actors' expressions. There really is nothing to find here: no drama, no suspense, no tension, only your life wasting away one second at a time.

Its amazing what can be achieved with a small crew and low budget. But with a vision of telling a compelling story and a good camera. This film has very little dialog or musical accompaniment. The audio track is astounding, as we're dropped into a rain-forest that's been overrun by the Japanese during WWII. We get the sounds of war and the jungle. I was riveted. I love the close encounters with the life of the place. Feel the bugs crawling on my skin. A unique piece of cinematic art deserving of positive critical review. I've seen lots of WWII movies over the years, but nothing like this. Another plus: none of the blood or violence or men with guns that is usual with the genre. More awards please!