[FILM] Empire Of The Sun

[#SnowyVernalSpringsEternal 10,265]

Empire Of The Sun

One of Spielberg's most undervalued films. Often accused of lacking both emotion and a clear narrative. Unusual for a director who is very well known for not shying away from either in most of his films.

This is very much a film seen through the eyes of a young boy. So Jamie (or Jim as he later calls himself) it lacks a sense of a larger narrative, a clear understanding of the politics involved, and who is good and who is bad.

Jim develops a hero worship towards the Japanese pilots close to the camp he is interned in, and also to Basie. An American "adventurer" of sorts. Basie befriends Jim because Jim is useful to him,and at various points is ready to ditch him when he thinks that usefulness has ended. Jim doesnt see that, or refuses to, because he doesnt have anyone else to learn from, or care for him, in his mind. John Malcovich is impressive in a role that requires him to be both charming and calculating.

And so is Christian Bale as Jim. In essence he is already playing the kind of role that he would play later in his career. A character who isnt actually all that sympathetic, not in a traditional way that most kids in Hollywood films are. Yet you do care for him. Despite the fact that he talks all the time, trying to curry favor of people who might benefit him, often to extreme annoyance. Like the kids in The Goonies, but this time in an internment camp, malnourished with death creeping ever closer. His feverish talking is his brain constantly working, trying to stay alive. Despite his abrasive ways, A sudden emotional scene where Jim breaks down and says he can't remember what his parents look like hits like a hammer.

His fascination for aircraft takes on an almost religious devotion throughout the film. Every scene featuring an aircraft contains shots of immense beauty. From the sight of Japanese zero's in the distance, early in the film, to the close pass-by of a "Cadillac Of The Skies" much later.

In fact the whole film is a thing of beauty. Spielberg's veneration of David Lean's epic's was already shown in the crowd scenes of Close Encounters. Here he takes a film that Lean wanted to direct at one point and fills it with shots that are a loving homage to this director.

It's weird. Spielberg is that most American of directors, yet makes a film that very much feels English. (even the Americans in this film surely arent portrayed as particularly sympathetic). Spielberg eschews much of the "easy"emotional sentiment he is known for. And also leaves a hell of a lot unsaid.

One of the weaknesses of Spielberg is that he doesnt always trust the audience to "get his point", so he hammers it home with the subtlety of a sledge hammer. With Saving Private Ryan as the greatest example of that.

Empire Of The Sun allows the viewer the freedom of their own interpretation. While there is a narrative of sorts running throughout the film, many scenes feel like a patchwork. Like parts of a greater whole that we aren't prive of.

The style is very interesting, and puzzled many reviewers. It is both an unflinching look at the realities of war and interment (while not very bloody, it doesnt shy away from death and violence), but also an adventure story seen though the eyes of a boy, who was abandoned and NEEDS hero's, a father figure, the sense of a normal life. The internment camp essentially becomes his home, much like his house in Shanghai ones was.

But because much if this wasnt really SPELLED out like everything was in SPR, or the ending of Schindlers List. A lot of the film was seen as barren or confusing. I don't think Spielberg would ever take such a risk again.

John Williams' score is the icing on the care. Used quite sparingly, but with moments of genuine fight and almost religious beauty.

Both a visually stunning film, one of the directors best looking, and a film that invites you to actually ponder about what you've seen, and to...at a future date re-watch.

I could watch SPR again and be amazed about the visuals, and it's depiction of the horrors of war, but take nothing new away from it.

But I think watching Empire Of The Sun again would be far more rewarding.

I can't rate it yet, oneday maybe.

[Joni Wiljami 1,206]

I'm ready to rate it.

*****

Both, film and score.

One of the weaknesses of Spielberg is that he doesnt always trust the audience to "get his point", so he hammers it home with the subtlety of a sledge hammer. With Saving Private Ryan as the greatest example of that.

Empire Of The Sun allows the viewer the freedo

I just watched A.I. with the kids. I love the movie but I hate those "Spielberg moments" ; ----"What did you say?", "MOM!" ---"did you say Mom?" ---"Did you say Mommy? Jesus!!!!

[Red 75]

One of the beard's most character-driven films, following Christian Bale's Jim throughout. He's in nearly every frame of the movie and the fact that it's a child as the center piece makes the performance and structure quite impressive. It's a study about a child's experience and perspective on war and as such is idiosyncratic and strange in some ways, but deliberately so. Spielberg has made three character-driven films like this that's focused on a particular child, E.T. and A.I. being the other two. Those are fine movies but this one is my favorite.

[publicist 4,643]

Empire Of The Sun

In fact the whole film is a thing of beauty. Spielberg's veneration of David Lean's epic's was already shown in the crowd scenes of Close Encounters. Here he takes a film that Lean wanted to direct at one point and fills it with shots that are a loving homage to this director.

The huge scene of the mass exodus from Shanghai rivals anything Lean ever has done - with Lean even admitting it. It's not a film that ever was going to be a favourite but it is wonderful odd duck of a picture.

[A24 4,325]

Empire Of The Sun

But I think watching Empire Of The Sun again would be far more rewarding.

Yes! Visually, there's so much going on that you can't see it all in one take.

Both a visually stunning film, one of the directors best looking, and a film that invites you to actually ponder about what you've seen, and to...at a future date re-watch.

I could watch SPR again and be amazed about the visuals, and it's depiction of the horrors of war, but take nothing new away from it.

Dead on the money, Steef!

[#SnowyVernalSpringsEternal 10,265]

Yes! Visually, there's so much going on that you can't see it all in one take.

What's your favorite shot, Alex?

[A24 4,325]

There are so many impressive shots! The possible suggestion of rape seen in the baking powder or flour on the kitchen floor, the condition of the swimming pool as a time measuring device, the Gone With The Wind billboard (set against the new wind that blows in Shanghai), the car with the emblem driving through the crowd in the city, Jim in his costume running over the hill to fetch his toy plane only to stand eye to eye with a company of soldiers, Basie (john Malkovich) overlooking the camp while the circular window creates a halo around him (it symbolizes how Jim sees him but the truth is that Basie is actually sending him through a minefield), At the end of the film, Jim standing in line with the other kids not remembering his parents (and neither did I) ... Really, asking for a favorite shot/moment in Empire of The Sun is like asking me for my favorite shot/moment in Blade Runner. There are just too many ...

Alex

[#SnowyVernalSpringsEternal 10,265]

Yes, there is a lot of imagery there that hints to the viewer, without openly stating it. The talcon powder wonderfully shows the probability of savage brutality better then a flashback could have. And the wind blowing it away removing the last imprints of Jamie's mum.

One of my favorite scenes is in the first camp, with Basie selected to be taken to the next one but not Jamie, frantically begging Basie to take him. But Basie not even looking at him, already trying to bond some other kids to him like the Fagin he is. For the first time in the film Jamie actually gets out of the situation by himself by telling the driver he knows the way, and the rush of exhilaration after he is taken on the truck, away from death and onwards to a new adventure, even ignoring the trickle of blood from his forehead.

It's actually interesting to ponder on how much of Jame (now Jim's) experiences in the camp are real and how much of it are his boyhood fantasies. It's very daring and unusual for Spielberg to actually never state this clearly. The "Jim's new Life" scene actually makes the camp look like a vibrant and colorful place. Wonder full for a boy to grow up in, like scout camp. In this scene the music indulges in Jim's fantasy life by being wonderfully chipper and optimistic.

Other scenes, like the "pheasant hunt" the camera acts more as an impartial observer, showing not only the danger Jim is in, but that the Americans he so admires place bets on him making it out alive. I didnt catch the halo you mentioned, Alex.

[#SnowyVernalSpringsEternal 10,265]

I love the fact that the film is told from both an impartial POV and that of a young boy's rose tinted glasses, and doesnt always make it clear at what point we are in Jim's world's view, and when we aren't.

In one scene Jim single handedly saves the hospital from being thrashed. Is that an exaggeration seen though Jim's eyes or did it really happen?

[publicist 4,643]

It's actually interesting to ponder on how much of Jame (now Jim's) experiences in the camp are real and how much of it are his boyhood fantasies.

What's there to ponder? Apart from the clearly allegorical flight scenes i don't see anything in the camp that is ambigious in content (that it raises this question). Spielberg really only does that by aesthetic means like the Williams scherzo etc.

[#SnowyVernalSpringsEternal 10,265]

Don't you think Jim saving the Hospital and his doctor friend with some cleverness is open to interpretation?

Btw, in the film Jim is constantly seen hero-worshipping both the Japanese pilots and Americans in general. In one of the last seens we see the Japanese boy he admired killed by Basie, who he admired. And his own feverish efforts to save the boy fail. He believed he nearly brought a woman back to life in the camp, and the heavenly lights of the atom bomb instilled him with almost God-like powers.

It's very much like that scene robs him of all his heroes and his self belief. All the things that sustain him throughout the film.

[publicist 4,643]

Yes, you talk about the boy's story and how it very clearly and without much ambiguity develops (the Basie betrayal, the Christ allegory). But that doesn't mean that happenings in the film per se are open for interpretation (was it only his imagination?). I think that's not what Ballard/Spielberg were after. Of course certain events and impressions are presented through Jim's eyes but that doesn't mean they didn't happen or are wholesale fabrications of his mind.

[#SnowyVernalSpringsEternal 10,265]

Well, in the documentary thats included on the Blu, Ballard actually mentions that he doesnt know if some of the memories of his internment are real or of they are imagined of hallucinations. He also states that some people in China claimed to have seen the flash of the atom bomb, but suggests that it may have been their imagination.

Children, abandonment and imagination were also frequent topics of Spielberg in that era.

He knows very well that many children in dire situations use their imagination and fantasy to "make things better".

[publicist 4,643]

I still don't see what actually could be gained by that (in the context of the movie)?

[#SnowyVernalSpringsEternal 10,265]

I'm not sure at this point. But both Ballard and Spielberg talk about how Jim's imagination alters the perception of his experience during the war.

This is partly supported by the fact that Jim is in (i think) every scene of the film. It is not a overview of the a whole aspect of the war that focuses on a small group of people, like Schindlers List did with the Holocaust, or SPR did for the Normandy Landings). Even when Spielberg's camera extends to show the epic score of the Shanghai exodus it never actually leaves Jim. We see what he sees, and ONLY what he sees.

[A24 4,325]

It's actually interesting to ponder on how much of Jame (now Jim's) experiences in the camp are real and how much of it are his boyhood fantasies. It's very daring and unusual for Spielberg to actually never state this clearly.

Yes, a lot of it is fantasy, wishful thinking and the interpretations of a child, and not only in the camp: remember the toy plane that keeps on flying during the imaginary air battle. Basie might not even look they way we see him because it's actually the character we see on the cover of the war comic book Jim is reading in the car. In the camp, Jim selects two people who are gradually becoming more and more the mirror image of Jim's real parents. At one point, they are even standing next to his bed they way his parents did (and in the photo of the painting that Jim pinned on his wall). Maybe the scene with his parents never took place. Notice how every pilot is saluting Jim. You never know if it's real or not ...

Alex

[#SnowyVernalSpringsEternal 10,265]

I assume you mean Mrs. Victor as a surrogate mum, but Doctor Rawlins as the surrogate father, rather then Mr. Victor. They are actually the only two people he truly connects to while in the camp. (with Basie just pretending).

But even though are seen somewhat at a distance. Like how many of the adults live at the periphery of the children's lives in E.T.

I also noticed that at the end of the film they all fade from his life. Mrs. Victor dies. Mr. Victor to presumably. I can't recall, but are we shown what happened to the Doctor? And Jim actually chooses not to be with Basie, and for the first time elects to travel by himself.

remember the toy plane that keeps on flying during the imaginary air battle.

That was my first real clue that Spielberg wasnt going to absolute realism in this picture. Another beautiful set of shots BTW.

I also wondered about the scene late in the film. In the stadium with all the objects. Jim finds his parents car.

Considering is was last seen in the exodus, and tanks were plowing over the car just behind it, how likely is it that thats actually the same car?

[publicist 4,643]

These pointers like the car (or let's call them enhancements) i buy (since they are at a point in the story where everything gets deliberately blurry, anyway), they make a lot of sense in the framing of the story but wholesale imaginations make the whole thing kind of obsolete. It only gains poignance by the fact that these things really happen or have happened earlier (like getting lost, finding surrogate parents, finding a friend etc.).

[#SnowyVernalSpringsEternal 10,265]

I never actually claimed that whole scenes were fabricated, but they are seen though the unobjective eyes of a young kid.

Alex, did you notice that in the camp, the only Japanese soldier/officer the film, and Jim take any notice of (outside of the young pilot) is Sgt. Nagata. Also at two seperate points in the film it's Nagata who almost shoots him. First during the scene where he touches the plane, and later during the pheasant hunt.

[Romão 2,274]

It's actually interesting to ponder on how much of Jame (now Jim's) experiences in the camp are real and how much of it are his boyhood fantasies. It's very daring and unusual for Spielberg to actually never state this clearly.

Yes, a lot of it is fantasy, wishful thinking and the interpretations of a child, and not only in the camp: remember the toy plane that keeps on flying during the imaginary air battle. Basie might not even look they way we see him because it's actually the character we see on the cover of the war comic book Jim is reading in the car. In the camp, Jim selects two people who are gradually becoming more and more the mirror image of Jim's real parents. At one point, they are even standing next to his bed they way his parents did (and in the photo of the painting that Jim pinned on his wall). Maybe the scene with his parents never took place. Notice how every pilot is saluting Jim. You never know if it's real or not ...

Alex

I was going to mention the same recurring imagery.

Like the one you mentioned concerning Basie and the Wings comic book:

[Sharkissimo 1,973]

Am I the only one here who prefers Allen Daviau to Janusz Kaminski?

[#SnowyVernalSpringsEternal 10,265]

No. All of the films Spielberg shot with him look gorgeous. Always might be a boring film, but it looks great! The switch from Daviau to Dean Cundy was a huge step down.

[Jay 37,259]

Always was shot by Mikael Salomon

[#SnowyVernalSpringsEternal 10,265]

Ah yes. You are right.

[Naïve Old Fart 9,489]

"Always" looks like a million dollars!

"Hook" benefits from Cundey's uber-saturated look, it being the most "internal" film Spielberg has directed.

[Sharkissimo 1,973]

it being the most "internal" film Spielberg has directed.

Whadya mean, Rich?

[#SnowyVernalSpringsEternal 10,265]

It looks like every scene was shot on a sound stage.

[Naïve Old Fart 9,489]

The (very) stylized photography, plus the fact that is almost entirely studio-bound, accentuates the place in which most of the film happens:

Banning's mind.

[Sharkissimo 1,973]

Oh yeah, right. I thought he meant personal.

[Naïve Old Fart 9,489]

On a personal note, "Hook" represents a move away from strong female, to strong male characters (mirroring his own rediscovered relationship with his father) which is further explored in his next 2 films.

[crocodile 7,974]

The (very) stylized photography, plus the fact that is almost entirely studio-bound, accentuates the place in which most of the film happens:

Banning's mind.

So you're basically saying the film is about Robin Willliams fantasising about... young orphan boys? There's even a phallic symbol of Peter Pan's sword,

Interesting.

Karol

[#SnowyVernalSpringsEternal 10,265]

On a personal note, "Hook" represents a move away from strong female, to strong male characters (mirroring his own rediscovered relationship with his father) which is further explored in his next 2 films.

I disagree. Spielberg's films always had an emphasis on male characters, adult or mature. With the sole exception being The Color Purple.

[A24 4,325]

The (very) stylized photography, ...

Always thought is was Spielberg being lazy and on autopilot.

[#SnowyVernalSpringsEternal 10,265]

Hooks feels overcrowded, visually. Especially the Neverland stuff.

[Naïve Old Fart 9,489]

On a personal note, "Hook" represents a move away from strong female, to strong male characters (mirroring his own rediscovered relationship with his father) which is further explored in his next 2 films.

I disagree. Spielberg's films always had an emphasis on male characters, adult or mature. With the sole exception being The Color Purple.

Watch his films chronologically, and you'll understand what I'm getting at.

The (very) stylized photography, ...

Always thought is a was Spielberg being lazy and on autopilot.

So did I, Alex, until I watched it a couple of years ago. Once you realize that it's all in his mind "Hook" takes on an whole other significance.

Steef, despite the main character being male, who is the strongest character in "Hook"?

[A24 4,325]

Hooks feels overcrowded, visually. Especially the Neverland stuff.

Like you said, it looks too stagy for a modern Fantasy film.

[#SnowyVernalSpringsEternal 10,265]

Dustin Hoffman's character.

[Naïve Old Fart 9,489]

Dustin Hoffman's character.

AAAGGGHH! Thank-you for playing!!!

At its heart, "Hook" is a very simple, and touching, film about a daughter's unvavering love for, and total belief in, her father. I only picked-up on this, as I said, a few years ago, whan I started to work with kids.

It's the same with "WOTW" - a simple story about a father desperately trying to re-connect with his children.

[#SnowyVernalSpringsEternal 10,265]

At its heart, "Hook" is a very simple, and touching, film about a daughter's unvavering love for, and total belief in, her father.

Sure, if you totally regard the fact that Peter's son Jack plays a far greater role in the film then his baby sister does. And that it's he who regains his trust and belief in his father. The women, be it Tinkerbell, Granny Wendy or Peter's daughter and wife are all merely supporting characters.

[Naïve Old Fart 9,489]

I never said the daughter is a lead character, I said she is a strong character, and it is her that motivates Banning to reclaim his son after he disowned him ("I am home").

[Naïve Old Fart 9,489]

I'll rate it for you, Steef: 10/10!

An absolute gem of a film (and score!!!!!!!!!!) and probably SS's most underrated piece of work, which got lost in all the "ooh, isn't The Last Emperor great" shenanigans.

(now corrected)

[publicist 4,643]

So did I, Alex, until I watched it a couple of years ago. Once you realize that it's all in his mind "Hook" takes on an whole other significance.

[#SnowyVernalSpringsEternal 10,265]

So like the end of The Minority Report, it's all a dream sequence?

[Naïve Old Fart 9,489]

All the Neverland sequences are, yes.

[#SnowyVernalSpringsEternal 10,265]

So where did the children go? If they weren't hook-napped?

[#SnowyVernalSpringsEternal 10,265]

Steef!

[Quintus 5,399]

To my own eye, Hook, which I adored as a kid, is probably the worst looking film of Spielberg's career. It is visually garish, its production design severely over decorated and messy.

Somehow though the movie still manages to hold a degree of charm in spite of itself and as a result remains a legitimate and authentic children's favourite.

[Jay 37,259]

You know, I REALLY need to see this movie.

[Matt C 452]

No. All of the films Spielberg shot with him look gorgeous. Always might be a boring film, but it looks great! The switch from Daviau to Dean Cundy was a huge step down.

Jurassic Park is a beautiful-looking movie. The usage of the filters, camera angles, shadow, lighting and color saturation... seeing the movie in 3D gave me a whole new appreciation for the camerawork. One of Spielberg's best collaborations with Cundey.

[Sharkissimo 1,973]

No. All of the films Spielberg shot with him look gorgeous. Always might be a boring film, but it looks great! The switch from Daviau to Dean Cundy was a huge step down.

Jurassic Park is a beautiful-looking movie. The usage of the filters, camera angles, shadow, lighting and color saturation... seeing the movie in 3D gave me a whole new appreciation for the camerawork. One of Spielberg's best collaborations with Cundey.

Indeed. Harmsway here once referred to it as Spielberg's direction at its dullest, but I beg to differ. There's a masterful use of diffusion (I believe Tiffen ProMists were used - the same filter Robert Richardson had on Stone's JFK), heavy backlighting, and split-plane diopters. I love the look of the computer room scenes. Cundey's early work with John Carpenter really paid off.