Customer Reviews

Till Human Voices Wake Us

5 star:		(14)
4 star:		(4)
3 star:		(3)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

Written and directed by award-winning Australian filmmaker Michael Petroni (Tresspasses, Addicted), Till Human Voices Wake Us is a slow, dreary, and fascinating mystery starring Guy Pearce and Helena Bonham Carter, who deliver dazzling performances as always. It's a supernatural romance that tells the story of a psychologist (Pearce), who, upon returning to his childhood home to bury his dead father, encounters a mysterious woman (Carter), who evokes memories of a long-lost love.

Fair warning: Till Human Voices Wake Us is not a good choice for people who prefer films that move quickly or make a lot of noise. So restrained is this Australian import that it flirts with outright sluggishness. But a close reading reveals that its reticence is more a charm than a disorder. Petroni's script draws from the poetry of T.S. Eliot, particularly "The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock." The movie title comes from that poem; it is a fragment of a line that ends "and we drown." Petroni is enthralled with the imagery of drowning, which he uses to reveal as much about the character's hearts and minds as about their life stories. Imperfect though it is, Till Human Voices Wake Us delivers a graceful bow to the power of hope.

Till Human Voices Wake Us is beautiful in it's imagery and cinematography, music, acting and writing. It has so many themes which resonated with me on such a deep level. Themes such as look at how we deal with traumas in our life and how they impact on who we become as an adult. Themes about looking at the patterns of behaviour passed down from generation to generation and the huge difficulty in breaking those patterns. Perhaps most important to me was the message that you have to work through your past in a positive way so that you can be free to live your future.

The characters are so beautifully created and the subtlety of the performances are just so moving. It's amazing how a glance or a breath can convey so many words and feelings. The film provided an absorbing and wonderful experience. Recommended for movie lovers, not just those looking for two hours of entertainment.

It is almost impossible to describe the immersive feeling you get from this movie. Too slow? plodding? Not at all. If you don't have the patience to sit and allow the rain, the stars, and the moonlight in this movie to wash over you you probably won't get the ending anyway. This movie is for people with poetry in their soul and who can spend an evening lying on the grass watching the stars. I waited 2 years for this to release and it was worth every moment.

'Till human voices wake us, and we drown.' This film's title comes from TS Eliot's poem 'The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock' which the heroine of the film loves to read. Like Eliot's poem, 'Till Human Voices Wake Us,' small Australian film is moody and intelligent though too slow for some people.

And very romantic. If you consider yourself a cynical person, don't watch this. In the summer of small village in Austlaria, a 15-year-old boy Sam comes back from the school. He meets Silvy again after long years, who is now experiencing a complete change into womanhood. They spend quiet and blissful time together in the wood, or by the river, like two innocent kids would. Then, something happens and Silvy is gone forever.

Cue to 20 years later. Now grown-up Sam (Guy Pearce) , a psychiatrist in Melboune University, receives a note, which brings him back to the village after 20 years. In this place full of bitter memories, he meets a woman Ruby (Helena Bonham Carter), who lost her memories after the shock of diving into the river. Sam, trying to help regain her memories, finds himself slowly attracted to her, and himself starts to accept his painful past.

You cannot accuse the film of too thin plot. The identity of Ruby is not a big mystery from the first, and the film does not attempt to hide the fact. Writer and director Michael Petroni clearly intends the film to be more atomospheric and symbolic than usual romances, for example, introducing many references to words (Ruby later turns out one such instance). The water plays significant role, so does butterfly, or the image of 'flying' (the young girl needed an aid to walk). I don't say they are put in the right places, but the ideas are pretty interesting.

But the most charms of the film come from the two leads, Carter and Pearce, who should stay away from any Sci-fi films in the future (no more apes, please, both of you). But more remarakable is the young actress Brooke Harman, who played Sylvie, who, in spite of her youth, is curiously seductive. Do not miss her.

Mostly too slow, and too talky at the same time, but that is the point of the film, which successfully conveys the bitter-sweet feelings of our lost childhood. And the images are beautiful, and so is Helena Bonham Carter.

I do so find it amusing to read reviews of this film which claim that "nothing happens" or describe it as being "slow". Definitely this film aims at avoiding linear narrative. I would say it is closer in spirit to the Wong Kar Wai films where mood is as much part of the story as are the silences which are loaded with more internal conflicts and reconsiderations and resolutions than all the dialogue in the world. Brilliant acting by Mr. Pearce and Ms. Bonham Carter.

Poetry's charming attributes -- lyricism, play on imagery, openness to individual interpretation -- are also its liability; what one may like in a poem, another may find vague or simply ignorable.

By that token, Till Human Voices Wake Us has to be one of the most lyrical films I have seen in recent months. Its theme is simplistic at best: a psychiatrist's childhood memories come flooding back when he returns to his hometown for his father's funeral, exacerbated further by a mysterious amnesic woman who reminds him of...well, any reader of this review can guess.

But what sets it apart is the deliberately languid pacing, the haunting visuals that look like preparatory stock for a big-budget music video, the elaborate trance in which the narrative seems to waft. I like Guy Pearce, love Bonham Carter, and together they sport some sizzling chemistry. Australia lends itself to scenic splendor of the highest order.

But the 18-dollar question: do I recommend it? Depends on your taste. If you've sat through Kurosawa's epics or 80s French films, the kind where nothing much appears to happen on screen yet a lot is kindled in your imagination, then you should find enough to savor in this dreamy romance. If not, it may come off as a pretentious, vacuous, or even ultimately confusing endeavor. Your call, I think it's a firm 3 of 5 stars for its radiance alone.

I first saw this movie by chance on a flight from DC to London. It was 2:00 am in my home time zone, but once the movie started I was wide awake till it ended. So much about this movie is so deep, intellectually and emotionally. The acting and photography are sublime. One of the best movies I've seen in years.

Not only the story being beautiful, the movie is beautifully done in terms of music, images, and story's structure. Similar sweetness and sadness are seen in the movie "My Girl"(1991).

It appears to be a mystic story, but it is rather realistic when thinking of how humans interpret all situations quite subjectively. The more honestly we live, the more subjective we become. The story itself is very sad, but because of its sadness the movie is painfully beautiful. I would imagine this one can be hard to watch for some people who are dealing with a great deal of grief.

I liked this DVD even though it is somewhat slow and predictable. The story is interesting and well told. It's basically a story about a man who has repressed his emotions and stopped taking chances because of a traumatic childhood event. The details of this film are enticing, and the memories haunting. It is a rather dark and heavy movie, and the end is bittersweet but satisfying. I'm glad I watched it.

NOw, when I watched this the first time, I was in "movie" mode-where you basically crunch popcorn loudly and it's no biggie cause most movies tell their stories so overtly.

But I slowly realized this movie (which I believe is adapted from a novel)plays like a moving picture book. It's sorta had a literary feel to it, which made me replay it again after the first viewing to "pick up" on all the nuances(not too nuanced but more nuanced than movies usually are).

The second viewing was much more powerful actually, much more gut wrenching, because you pick up on some of the nuances better and the themes of memory and regret and moving on. Now it does move at a slow pace, but not to the point where you want to turn it off. You just have to be a little more patient as most of the "slow" parts because their significance tends to pop up later on.

This movie is one of the few movies I've ever teared up on. It is very beautiful, but in a way that isn't corny or "Hollywood" like-in a way that recognizes life in all it's sad and all too fleeting beauty. Buy this DVD if you like romantic dramas/mysteries that don't always end with a marriage or a "and they lived happily ever after."

Guy Pearce and HElena Bonham Carter, as well as the two child actors, were just amazing, by the way. There is one scene between the two leads that interplay with a flashback, that just rips your heart out......

I must admit that my sole interest in seeing this film was one of sheer curiosity, it having been written and produced by my mother's cousin, Michael Petroni. I really didn't know what to expect and purposely didn't read any reviews or opinions beforehand in order to form as unbiased an opinion as possible and had no intention of sharing my opinion with the public, once made. That changed, however, before the final credits rolled.
This film was so beautifully executed in every way, so deeply intense and so profoundly thought provoking that I was spell-bound throughout its entirety. It was everything I look for in a good, quality motion picture. I completely concur with all of the opinions expressed here. While this film may not be for everyone, it is definitely for anyone who has good taste in fine art.