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Review: ‘Silent City’ has little to say

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In “Silent City,” watching the travails of a young Dutch cook, Rosa, struggling to keep sane in Tokyo is its own kind of trial. Rosa’s plight is naturally moving: She’s friendless in Japan and less conversant in the language than a baby. But she’s so short on resourcefulness that lending her sympathy is a chore.

Rosa (Laurence Roothooft) is an apprentice to Master Kon (Makoto Makita), a legendary chef as inexpressive as he is demanding. Mornings begin with group stretches; days are spent in factory-like conditions, the trainees slicing open dozens of fish in silence. Every friendly gesture Rosa makes toward her co-workers is rebuffed; they won’t even reveal their names.

It’s easy to see why Rosa stays on. When she tastes Kon’s dishes, she’s transported to a nobler place. But the fish can’t keep her company at the bathhouses, where she’s alone even when surrounded by countless other naked women.

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Her composure soon falters. “Does anyone speak English?” she wails at a half-full subway station. None do, but it’s not so difficult to find English-speakers in an international metropolis filled with foreign workers and expats. That Rosa never encounters another character with English fluency — nor grasps her Eurocentric limitations — makes director Threes Anna’s film less the intended portrait of cultural isolation than an illustration of how a lack of imagination can lead to despair.

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“Silent City”

MPAA rating: None. English, Dutch and Japanese with incidental English subtitles

Running time: 1 hour, 30 minutes

Playing: Arena Cinema, Hollywood. Also available on VOD.

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