The Goddess of 1967 is an Australian art film/road movie directed by
Clara Law.
A young Japanese man who lives in a luxury Tokyo apartment with a huge
collection of reptiles decides he wants a legendary car, the 1967 Citroen DS,
nicknamed the Deesse, or Goddess. He locates one on the net in Australia, makes
a deal for it, and travels down under to take possession. When he arrives, he finds that the man
who was selling it has shot his wife and then himself. An 18-year-old blind
woman (Rose Byrne) is there with the couple's young daughter. Since there are
still brains all over the ceiling, etc, he is spooked, and leaves, but remembers
to come back and ask her about the car, by which time the blind woman has sent the young daughter on her way with the authorities.
She shows
him the Citroen, which he loves, and then informs him she does not own the car,
and
that they will have to travel into the bush to meet with the real owner. It is
during this five day drive into the deep bush that we learn about the two. He
has lost a best friend to a traffic accident, earned his money with computer
fraud over the net, and is now wanted in Japan. She was molested by her
grandfather, who was also molesting her mother, all of which is shown in
flashback. There is sexual tension between them.
Law's photography is unique, earning this a deserved reputation as an artistic
film, but I found the visual style distracting, and
the pace glacial. The Aussie outback is pictured in striking visuals which
border on surreal, but that is not enough to carry the film for nearly two hours.
Much of the story takes place within the confines of the car, which makes the
entire project static and claustrophobic.
If you are not familiar with our grading system, you need to
read the
explanation, because the grading is not linear. For example, by
our definition, a
C is solid and a C+ is a VERY good movie. There are very few Bs
and As. Based on our descriptive system, this film is a:
C
It is a good movie of its type, but not one that I was able
to appreciate properly.
