It's a very simple premise. The year is 1942, the world is at war. An Aussie pilot is shot down on a jungle island that is in enemy territory. While trying to survive, and evade Japanese forces, he runs across another soldier, Chinese, also stranded. Together they form a wordless support system, and attempt to make it out alive.
Short/documenatary filmmaker Aaron Wilson writes/directs/produces here, with a very minimal cast mostly consisting of Khan Chittenden as Jim, and Morning Tzu-Yi Mo as Seng. CANOPY is a dialog-free excersise, strictly a show-don't-tell piece. Does it work? Not in this case. What we get is a lot of hiding in the grass, looking at maps, and drinking out of streams. The situations that Jim and seng are put in aren't enough to properly build their characters, and I seriously found myself checking my watch more than anything else. A noble attempt? Yes. terminally boring? Sadly, also yes.
Creator Wilson should have stuck to the short film format for this one as well, which overstays it's welcome by about an hour, which is already a lean 84 minutes. As you can see from the blurb laden poster above this review, I am in the minority. But the best thing about CANOPY for me, was the trailer. For a movie in the same vein, mining the same ideas, go with HELL IN THE PACIFIC.
Rating: 2 out of 5
~Sean Smithson
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