This is a pretty amazing film. It is the story of four children who are ultimately abandoned by their mother soon after the fatherless family moves into an new apartment.
Nobody Knows does a deft job at portraying child abuse and abandonment. The mother clearly loves her children and also, clearly is incapable of taking care of them. She is more of a child herself then her own children. And this is what works so well in this film, it's subtlety. Nothing is forced on the viewer.
The mother disappears twice, the second time for good. In both instances, she says that she will be back and places the burdens of maintaining the family on her 12 year old son, Akira. Akira manages as well as he can keeping the family together. According to the bizarre rules set out by the mother, no child is allowed to go to school outside the apartment. After she leaves, Akira manages to adhere the family to these rules and manage the finances until the situation slowly unravels in the parent-less environment.
As a parental figure, Akira does he best until his own needs overwhelm him. He wants to go to school, have friends, play baseball and even develop crushes on girls. All these aspects of growing up are represented, and all of them are shown in Akira's world as unfulfilled desires. He develops some friends who quickly abandon him, since his child dominated household is "messy and stinky" as they put it, he gets to realize his love for baseball only when a playground team needs an extra. In each instance, Akira must return home to take care of his brothers and sisters who are slowly venturing away from the "rules" themselves.
As Akira runs out of money, the electricity and other utilities get shut off. Somewhat inexplicably, only once is the rent asked for by a landlord seemingly clueless that a cluttered apartment filled with unsupervised kids is not unusual.
By showing Akiras strength, the film illustrates how heroic even a child as young as 12 can be. It also shows how tragic a situation can end up when children are abandoned and left to take care of themselves.
Highly recommended.
Nobody Knows does a deft job at portraying child abuse and abandonment. The mother clearly loves her children and also, clearly is incapable of taking care of them. She is more of a child herself then her own children. And this is what works so well in this film, it's subtlety. Nothing is forced on the viewer.
The mother disappears twice, the second time for good. In both instances, she says that she will be back and places the burdens of maintaining the family on her 12 year old son, Akira. Akira manages as well as he can keeping the family together. According to the bizarre rules set out by the mother, no child is allowed to go to school outside the apartment. After she leaves, Akira manages to adhere the family to these rules and manage the finances until the situation slowly unravels in the parent-less environment.
As a parental figure, Akira does he best until his own needs overwhelm him. He wants to go to school, have friends, play baseball and even develop crushes on girls. All these aspects of growing up are represented, and all of them are shown in Akira's world as unfulfilled desires. He develops some friends who quickly abandon him, since his child dominated household is "messy and stinky" as they put it, he gets to realize his love for baseball only when a playground team needs an extra. In each instance, Akira must return home to take care of his brothers and sisters who are slowly venturing away from the "rules" themselves.
As Akira runs out of money, the electricity and other utilities get shut off. Somewhat inexplicably, only once is the rent asked for by a landlord seemingly clueless that a cluttered apartment filled with unsupervised kids is not unusual.
By showing Akiras strength, the film illustrates how heroic even a child as young as 12 can be. It also shows how tragic a situation can end up when children are abandoned and left to take care of themselves.
Highly recommended.