April 6 2017:  
The Country Doctor
A Silent Voice

From five reviews last week, to only two this week - but they are two beauties! A French doctor gives the sort of ministration we can only dream of, while a Japanese animation addresses serious issues of bullying, disability and redemption. 

The Country Doctor
Director: Thoman Lilti
Length: 102 min

© Madman - Doctors rise to the challenges in this 
sweet, old-fashioned story. 

Jean Pierre Werner (Francois Cluzet) is the sort of doctor we would all wish to have. He is caring, travels miles to his sick patients, and knows their problems inside out. When, after 30 years of running his solo practice, Jean Pierre finds out he has a brain tumour, he is urged to get himself an assistant. Natalie (Marianne Denicourt), newly graduated,  comes to help out, but the doc perceives himself as irreplaceable. This is a gentle and heart-warming film, which meanders along with no real dramatic highs or lows, but simply portrays a world that seems to be vanishing - one in which people are intimately connected, truly care for others, and doctors put their patients' welfare above monetary gain. (A subplot about Werner fighting for an old man to be kept in his home is truly touching.) Written and directed by a doctor, it feels authentic throughout. With winning performances by both leads, and lots of lovely French countryside, this is a small, old-fashioned pleasure to be savoured.      
4 - wholeheartedly recommended!

A Silent Voice
Director: Naoko Yamada
Length: 129 min

© Madman - a delicate and poignant story of 

bullying, disability and coming of age 

Japanese animation for me evokes either action stories or the beautifully painted films from Hayao Miyazaki's Studio Ghibli (think Spirited Away, My Neighbour Totoro.) Now we have something different again - a compelling tale from Kyoto Animation Studios, and based on a popular Japanese manga (that's a graphic novel, aimed at adults or youngsters). It's the story of Shoya Ishida, who, along with his classmates in elementary school, bullies a hearing-impaired girl  Shoko Ishimiya. Later, in his teen years, he wants to make amends for what he did, and gradually a tentative reconciliation and redemption take shape. At times the characters become a little confusing, and the film is very long, but it is exquisitely drawn, and the teen characters, with all their typical angst and personality traits, are incisively portrayed. With themes of disability, bullying and even teen suicide, this is a powerful piece of animated movie making.      
4 - wholeheartedly recommended!