DIRECTOR: Ayelet Menahemi
DURATION: 100 mins
GENRE: Comedy/Drama
LANGUAGE: Hebrew & Mandarin with English Subtitles
RATING: PG
FESTIVALS AND AWARDS: Montreal World Film Festival (2007), Special Grand Prize of the Jury (Director - Ayelet Menahami)
Noodle Trailer without subtitles in Hebrew and Chinese
Singapore film society- about Israeli Film festival and the film (Noodle)
SYNOPSIS
At thirty-seven, Miri is a twice-widowed, El Al flight attendant. Her well-regulated existence is suddenly turned upside down by an abandoned Chinese boy whose migrant-worker mother has been summarily deported from Israel. The film is a touching comic-drama in which two human beings -- as different from each other as Tel Aviv is from Beijing -- accompany each other on a remarkable journey, one that takes them both back to a meaningful life.
Noodle Trailer without subtitles in Hebrew and Chinese
Singapore film society- about Israeli Film festival and the film (Noodle)
SYNOPSIS
At thirty-seven, Miri is a twice-widowed, El Al flight attendant. Her well-regulated existence is suddenly turned upside down by an abandoned Chinese boy whose migrant-worker mother has been summarily deported from Israel. The film is a touching comic-drama in which two human beings -- as different from each other as Tel Aviv is from Beijing -- accompany each other on a remarkable journey, one that takes them both back to a meaningful life.
Noodle immediately caught my attention (in terms of "pathos"- emotions) as firstly, it is an Israeli production created with a Chinese touch. This movie is unlike any typical Israeli show that is all political but instead, it is about emotional connection and relationships between very different people. Indeed, it brings to life all the emotional senses in the body. In this show, communication is expressed through indirect means like actions and objects, like noodles. Because of the communication barrier in terms of language that was first imposed in this movie, communication made by non verbal cues evoke emotions and create resolutions as viewers discover communication in other ways shown by the characters in the movie. It is also interesting as Chinese/Asian viewers would possess a different perspective from the Israeli viewers as both language groups would experience a varying impression on the breakdown in communication that is portrayed by the Chinese boy and the Israeli actors. The Asians would relate more to the Chinese instead of the Israeli, unlike an Israeli audience. It is most aptly concluded when the contrasting characters develop an intricate form of connection that is not expressed by words!
Personally, this show has allowed me to understand how communication does not have to be verbal, but instead the effectiveness of non-verbal communication can be mind-blowing as well! This film has certainly brought me to know that a movie brought together by different cultures can bring about different effects to different viewers.
This show is a must-watch for those who anticipate emotional genres of movies that provoke greater thinking and analysing.
Take a look at the trailer and tell me how you feel!
Reference:
http://www.channelnewsasia.com/video
http://www.thepicturehouse.com.sg/
12 comments:
after reading your well-written post, i feel like i can't wait to watch the show :)
Noodle is a good movie to show that people with language barrier, can still communicate with one another. Looking at the trailer a few times, I totally have no idea what the Israeli actors were saying. However, being a Chinese, I do understand every word the Chinese boy said. With that bit & pieces of information, I try to interpret the storyline of the show.
Though I don’t understand what the Israelis actors were saying, I try to read their non verbal communication such as their body language, tone of their voice, eye contact & touch. For examples, from the way the Chinese boy ate the noodle I can understand that he was famished. There was also a scene where Miri was smoking and talking to a police woman. Their tone was loud and their expression was tense. I believe something bad had happened. And also there was a scene where Miri hugged the adorable Chinese boy. I could sense the love and assurance from Miri. There is an Idiom saying “Actions speak louder than words” and I totally agree with it. :)
According to the research (Mehrabian and Ferris,'Inference of Attitude from Nonverbal Communication in Two Channels' in The Journal of Counselling Psycology Vol.31, 1967,pp.248-52), 55% of impact is determined by body language-postures,gestures and eye contact, 38% by the tone of voice, 7% by the content or the words used in the communication process. From this, I will be more conscious of my body language & my tone of voice when communicating with people.
In order to fully understand this movie, I will definitely rent this movie with English subtle and watched it. Thanks Fiona!!!
Fascinating trailer about a movie that explores human relationships beyond the barriers of language and verbal communication.
Just like alfred, I can't understand a single word muttered during the trailer but it's clear to me through the non-verbal aspects that it involves a touching plot ..probably involving identities lost and found.. and self-discovery...
I'm someone who's very particular about watching movies featured in film festivals but this movie has definitely piqued my interest..
thanks for bringing it up to our attention =)
Indeed, non-verbal cues can sometimes work just as well as verbal ones. A simple hand gesture can easily replace a long sentence that depicts any emotions involved. However, the disadvantage about non-verbal cues is that it must be prominent enough for the audience to interpret it. If not, it's as good as none. Thus, i believe it takes more than just effort to communicate through non-verbal cues as the director needs to get everyone to see in his perspective due to the difference in everyone's perception.
I haven't watch this yet, but your description and analysis are actually much more interesting that the trailer, I must say :p
i disagree with your statement that asians endear themselves to asian characters and israelis to israeli characters, but i do understand what you are trying to put across. television serials like Heroes (Masi Oka) and movies like The Last Samurai (Ken Watanabe) have huge fan followings because of their passionate acting, in the sense that they portray the characters as people that you aspire to be, or inspire people to achieve something in life, or just bringing back memories that we, in real life, have come across before, and thus we can relate to them (the character).
although i have not watched it, from your description we can all see the power of non-verbal communication. it's powerful, and mind-invoking. it makes people like me think that "hey, the phrase 'silence is golden' does have a new meaning after all."
After reading your description, 'Noodle' seems like one of those typical heartwarming story that deals with relationships. A different display of language/communication? haha. anyway, interesting choice of film to discuss about! (:
Indeed, this seems like an interesting movie. I guess, when 2 people from different countries are faced with a language barriers, they have to fall back onto reading the non-verbal behaviours.
i believe that non-verbal cues are just as important as the verbal cues. and this movie, shows it all! without a common language, they are left with nothing but non-verbal cues to communiate. this reminds me of this movie, i forgot the title, of a little boy and her old grandma. both of them also communiate using non-verbal cues.
hey fiOnaaaaa! sounds like a really good movie. maybe its cos of your interpretation? so i must say good review u did. so ya. definitely a good example of cross cultural/race/ethnic? also a fine example of nonverbal comm. it tells us that relationship can also be built up even if language border between them. i'm quite curious of the reviews by the israeli audience.
I think non-verbal communication is possibly more impactful than verbal communication sometimes. After reading ur blog post, im definitely going to catch this show. It's shows like this that demonstrate how communication can conquer language barriers and cultural differences. Communication definitely unites all mankind, no matter where you come from.
It reminds me of the infamous Lost In Translation, a Sofia Coppola film starring Bill Murray and Scarlett Johansson, where both of them meet in Japan.
I would think, regardless of the language differences, both sides can relate to the despair and pain displayed in the movie. Such feelings are universal, and transcend all cultural and national boundaries.
When it comes to love, be it a mother's love, or a child's love, I think those messages are universal. A good aspect about this movie is that, people who do not understand Hebrew or Mandarin, would have to solely rely on the subtitles and non-verbal cues, thus, it is a harder job for the director, as he/she has to ensure that the actors are able to convey those messages across.
I was touched by the trailer - it is simple, powerful and the themes are significant.
A good point of discussion would be the clash of cultures. This movie is reflective of how globalized our world is becoming, and it's testament to the universality of the film/movie industry. It can also be argued, that culture is being used as a commodity, for promotion, or even political purposes.
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