Film Review: THE PLACE OF NO WORDS: An Emotionally-difficult but Worthwhile Film [Tribeca 2019]

The Place of No Words Review

The Place of No Words (2019) Film Review from the 18th Annual Tribeca Film Festival, a movie directed by Mark Webber, starring Nicole Elizabeth Berger, Eric Christian Olsen, Bodhi Palmer, Teresa Palmer, Anna Schafer, Phoebe Tonkin, Mark Webber, and Sarah Wright.

How can a three-year-old possibly be such a good actor? It helps when his character has the same name and his real-life parents play his parents onscreen as well. Watching this movie, I wondered whether the behind-the-scenes might have been as fascinating as the film itself. The dialog between Bodhi (Bodhi Palmer) and his parents (Mark Webber and Teresa Palmer) comes across as so real that it seems impossible for the lines to have been scripted. I have a strong suspicion that many of the film’s dialog comes from authentic interactions among the family, which makes it even more tragic and more sweet.

The Place of No Words is genius in the source of its inventiveness: the mind of a child. While adults struggle to make careers out of being creative and essentially playing pretend, children do this organically all the time. The fantastical elements of this film are crafted through a child’s eyes, resulting in limitless possibility and constant wonder.

The storyline, however, is very much the opposite. It is horribly real. It’s simple too; in fact, there is only the wisp of a storyline. One idea, rooted in reality, sparks the whole fairytale-esque adventure, a strange original concept for a film that certainly earns points for creativity.

Despite the simple story and the magical elements, this film requires a great deal of work from its viewers. The editing style is quite choppy and, unlike most films, The Place of No Words gives very little to the viewer in terms of clues for how to watch it. I spent a good portion of the film trying to figure out what exactly was happening, as the images shifted between a fantasy story that seemed to follow a narrative and a more realistic story that was harder to decipher. This is not to say that the film is poorly crafted: though it does its job in an unfamiliar way, it does it well enough that each viewer should have an “aha” moment, where the light bulb turns on and they get what this film is really about.

The film requires another type of work too. To avoid robbing viewers of the opportunity to figure out some key details for themselves, I simply will caution that bearing witness to this story requires a great deal of emotional labor that might not be every viewer’s cup of tea. On the other hand, its tone and aesthetic is full of lightness and light, which helps to counterbalance the dark concepts with which it engages.

The Place of No Words is, if nothing else, a courageous work, unafraid to try new things and to break some cinematic rules. It centers a three-year-old, visually and emotionally represents dual, yet linked, stories, covers some difficult concepts, and combines everything into a package unlike anything I’ve ever seen. Although it was emotionally difficult to watch and at times I felt frustrated by how much the film requires the viewer to figure out in order to have a full experience, I ultimately left the film feeling that I had experienced something cinematically-groundbreaking and deeply, emotionally impactful. If viewers are prepared for a little work I think they’ll come out feeling largely the same way.

Rating: 7/10