Canopy

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.

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!

Before I watch a movie I look at the plot summary and read a few reviews. There are a some very negative reviews of this movie here on IMDb and I am left wondering why these people watched the movie? A few seemed to think there should be more fighting and sophisticated effects. Some seemed to think there should have been a stronger story line. This is not that kind of movie folks. This is the kind of movie that requires the viewer to engage and think about the human condition. If you want banging and smashing action or a fairy tale story don't bother watching this movie. If your attention span is just long enough to manage handfuls of popcorn don't watch this movie. If you want to be engaged in a thought process then you are in for a treat. I was reminded very much of the classic war movie "Hell in the Pacific" as I watched. Here the two characters are comrades rather than adversaries but there are similarities in the lack of a common language and the reliance on strong visual images. I don't want to give away the plot or ending but without spoiling anything I can say the penultimate scene makes a very strong statement about how we remember the victims of a war. In summary people should watch movies according to their tastes. If you want big budget Hollywood action and a story don't bother with this movie, and moreover don't half watch it without concentrating and write a lambasting review. If you want something more existential and thought provoking, I recommend this movie to you.

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.

I read the reviews before watching this movie so I was already a bit prepared of what I was going to see. I read there was not much dialogs and to me for a good movie sometimes it's not even necessary. But in this movie there is almost no conversation at all. The only line the main character had to remember is his name. He said it twice and that's it. I don't say Khan Chittenden failed as an actor because his expressions of fear and anguish are good but since there are two actors I thought a little bit of conversation would have done good to the movie. So the movie will just be liked by people that like jungle scenery. Nature is the only thing that keeps the movie interesting but then I wonder if I was not better going on a walk in the forest instead of watching this movie.