Canopy

Using music, jungle sounds and the sounds of war does set the scene, dispenses with clunky dialogue, character introduction and other film necessities but completely misses the self evident need for pictures. From this point on the movie deteriorates into situations devoid of; a story, a journey, any surprise or any redeemable plot. Likely a very cheap film to make it feels like it was made to show film school undergraduates how NOT to make a movie. Two stars. One for the double meaning of the title. The second for the tear shed by the second actor towards the end. Truly a narrative free zone with a recommendation for anyone writing a screenplay to watch a movie to list it's faults, can you do better? By God, you can.

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.

Singapore, February 1942. An Australian fighter pilot is shot down over the jungle and must find his way back to Allied lines, through Japanese-held territory.

The basic plot is what made me watch this: the survival theme set in war time is intriguing. Initial set up is good too.

Moreover, from the beginning the striking feature of the movie is the scenery and cinematography. Is very well done, with lush junglescapes and the stillness and peacefulness of nature contrasting with the violent war and life-or-death struggle the airman is engaged in. It reminded me a lot of the cinematography in Terrence Malick's 'The Thin Red Line'.

However, after the intriguing set up there is really very little in the way of plot development or substance. A human/relationship drama is introduced but it is not developed to much of an extent. The middle 60% or so of the movie involves far more style than substance, with the scenery largely replacing plot development.

Conclusion is fairly good and has an emotional element, but even that is underplayed.

Ultimately, okay, but could have been much better. Fairly disappointing.

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