Nobody Knows (Daremo Shiranai) Movie Review

 

Nobody Knows (誰も知らない) (2004)

This review is a few weeks late, but in my film and Japanese culture class we watched "Nobody Knows" (Daremo Shiranai). The film is based on a very publicized and rather horrific incident of child neglect and abandonment that occurred in Japan in the late 1980s. The gist of it is that a mother of four children, aged between five and twelve years old, hides the children in an apartment and then leaves them to fend for themselves, giving the twelve-year old some money to last them until she returns. But she doesn't return and the situation gradually deteriorates until one child is dead and the others are malnourished and have an uncertain future.

What makes this movie interesting is how unique the cinematography is. It's less like a normal movie that has a plot with a climax, ending, and obvious progression and more like a documentary following the daily lives of the children, particularly that of the oldest son, Akira, the only one allowed to leave the apartment. Much of the movie is filled with repetitive scenes of Akira's daily activities, often with dull colors, little dialogue, and no music. Watching it does not feel like watching a movie, but like actually living Akira's life. But for such a depressing premise, the reality is that Akira (and thus, you the viewer) is rather emotionally numb to the situation and goes about his life in a zombie-like state, doing what has to be done to keep him and his siblings alive. Occasional moments of emotion where Akira is able to act like a kid again are brought to life with colors and music, though these events are few and far between and quickly fade back into the grays of daily life. The intentional lack of emotion in this film is very unique and is done expertly, but as such it is also a chore to watch. By then end, the viewer is left unsatisfied, uneasy, and with lingering feelings for which the director did not give any sort of cathartic outlet.

It was interesting to see a movie so well made and so unique and yet not enjoyable, even in the sense that sad movies can be enjoyable. It simply was. Its purpose seemed to be to inform people that cases of child neglect like this exist and does so by making the story into a normal-looking, everyday life sort of story, communicating that this was not a one-time extraordinary event. That is the movie's one goal and it does it very well, but if you are already aware of the existence of child neglect, I can safely say that there is no need for you to watch this movie. Sad movies can be enjoyable, but Nobody Knows is just uncomfortably numb.

How to pronounce Japanese

If you're going to be reading this blog (or even just living in a world where Japan exists), it will be helpful to know how to pronounce Japanese words. Lucky for you, it's extremely easy. Just sound out everything you see.

Consonants all behave as you would expect in English and "y" always acts as a consonant. This means that "Tokyo" is two syllables and is pronounced "Toh-kyoh" not "Toh-ki-oh". There are similar consonant combinations with "y" and all of them act as combined consonants, "y" will never sound like a vowel.
"Tsu" as in "Tsunami" is pronounced as it looks, like the "ts" in "cats" (with an additional "u" sound of course), except it can come at the beginning, middle, or end of a word. Japanese "r"s and "l"s are all the same letter and sound like something that is the combination of "r" and "l". Pronouncing it as one or the other usually is not a problem.

Vowels are few in number and are always pronounced the same way:
a = ah (father)
e = eh (pet)
i = ee (ski)
o = oh (bone)
u = oo (flume)
When vowels come in succession, simply sound them out together and you'll end up with the correct pronunciation. ("Pai" sounds like "pie".) When two of the same vowel come in a row (sometimes written as a long vowel with a bar over it), hold the vowel sound for a little longer.

Sometimes, there will be double consonants, as in "Nippon". These are pronounced as a small pause before the consonant. It would be easier to understand if you heard an example on youtube, but if you're in a hurry, pronouncing both consonants tends to force you to break up the syllables and make a small pause anyway. So you can say "Neep-pohn".

That's it! Now you can go impress your friends with your ability to pronounce Japanese words. Nah, but seriously, don't be so proud of yourself, it's really easy and you should have learned this ages ago.

BONUS:
When speaking, some vowels end up being devoiced (because honestly, who has the time for vowels these days). This mostly happens in common places like "-masu" at the end of verbs, where the "u" is devoiced making it sound like "moss". Same thing in "desu". "-shite" and "-shita", more common endings of verbs, tend to have the "i" devoiced so they sound like "shte" and "shta". Also sometimes where "suki" or "suke" or "tsuki" or "tsuke" occur in words, the "u" is devoiced. There are probably other instances of this, but these are the most common.