Japan is a place full of traditions, culinary highlights but sadly also earthquakes. The earthquake might be a terrifying event but something wonderful happens every time after that. The earthquake bird sings a pleasing song. Or at least in Susanna Jones’ novel Earthquake Bird. There’s not much singing going on in the same-named film from director Wash Westmoreland (The Last of Robin Hood, Quinceañera). His latest movie will shake you to the core in a dark and secretive way.
Say hello to Lucy Fly (Alicia Vikander), an American woman who has been living in Japan for the past five years while working as a translator. Her life seems to be an ordinary one: Working, hanging out with friends and playing the cello. Her life soon turns into a “life-and-death” situation after she finds out that Lily (Riley Keough) is dead.
While Lucy is the more responsible and introvert person and Lily was a party animal and always up for fun, both became close friends. As the last person to have seen Lily alive, Lucy’s being taken to the police station as Lily’s death is a suspicious one. During her questioning, Lucy’s dark, horrific and terrible past is being revealed.
However, it doesn’t start that bad at all. After being swept off her feet by a young and handsome man called Teiji (Naoki Kobayashi), Lucy starts to believe in love at first sight. Both coming from totally different backgrounds, they decide to be open to each other right from the beginning. Teiji tells about his passion for photography while Lucy is opening about her American and Japanese life.
Many months pass by and their relationship seems very solid. For Lucy, it’s about time to introduce her new man to her friends and so she does. However, that will be the biggest mistake of her life.
After introducing Teiji to Lily, there’s no such thing as a couple anymore. Everywhere Teiji and Lucy go, there’s Lily or when the two girls want a night out, Teiji joins in. This fuels Lucy with doubt about her relationship and also with jealousy, and suspicion, especially after Teiji and Lily spend more time together without her. This puts both the relationship and friendship under pressure for all three. When things get heated, something snaps in one of their minds…
That Wash Westmoreland isn’t afraid of making stunning films with strong female leads was proven in his Still Alice and Colette. And also with Earthquake Bird, he puts resolute women in the center of the well-deserved attention. Firstly, because this work is an adaption of the mysterious novel by Susanna Jones. If you liked the novel, then you will love the film. If you haven’t read her work, then you will probably do so after watching this wonderful film.
The most intriguing element of this movie is without a doubt the uncertainty, secretive and enigmatic story. That’s also what the first part isn’t as captivating and intriguing as the second. During the first part of the film, we got to know Lucy, her background, her work, and her friends.
Most of the sounds are the sound of the passing subway or traditional Japanese music. There’s already obscure music in this section as well as some small revelations that could indicate a darker past. Once that past is being revealed even more, this film becomes much more intriguing one and the music becomes more bombastic. The sense of surprise and suspense is being created by the black colours, the beating drums, and the cutting violins.
That secretive vibe shines even more through tanks to cinematographer Chung-hoon Chung (Zombieland: Double Tap, Hotel Artemis). At the beginning, he makes this movie like it’s just representing the ordinary life of a young woman. But once we see that red colour appearing and the flashbacks that come along with that, the enigmatic element of Earthquake bird rises even more.
At first, those red flashbacks might seem a little bit confusing, but you get the explanation and the dangerous element of those, Earthquake Bird becomes a movie you should watch until the very end. You will always have that “did it happen like that or not?” feeling which is actually what makes this film so appealing.
That Japan has a lot of talent to offer becomes clear when watching Kobayashi (High & Low: The Movie 3 – Final Mission, High & Low: The Movie 2 – End of SKY). Thanks to his long posture and stunning performance, he’s very captivating and marvelous as the new stranger in Lucy’s life.
After starring in astonishing but compelling films such as Under the Silver Lake and The House That Jack Built, Keough has now chosen again for another thought-provoking movie. She brings the naïve and sweet Lily to the big screen in a beautiful, charming and interesting way.
While their performances are great, they’re being outclassed by Vikander (Tomb Raider, The Light Between Oceans). For this role, she had to learn both the Japanese language and playing the cello. She’s terrific in the lead and puts on such a convincing performance.
This movie was already part of the London Film Festival and Tokyo International Film Festival, and after receiving a limited cinema run, Earthquake Bird is now available on Netflix. This latest movie from Westmoreland has a slow start and might be too slow overall. However, thanks to a superb Vikander, a lovely supporting cast, the compelling story, and the spot-on cinematography and music, this is a movie you need to check out.
