Kauwboy (2012)

Touches You

If you don't like this, we can't be friends.

If you like to be scared, if you like to laugh, and if you like to learn a thing or two at the movies, this absolutely cannot be missed.

The film never slows down or bores, plunging from one harrowing sequence to the next.

In an era when many movies are just re-hashes of other movies this little production distinguishes itself. Very watchable. Touching. Engaging. Real. Anyone who has known loss way too soon in life will identify. The lead actor has real talent. You quickly forget you're watching an actor, so natural is his performance. And the directing distinguishes itself as well. It's said never work with animals or children, or animal-like children (hey, he growls and bites!). But the performance coaxed out of this young talent is notable. And I can't imagine working with a bird was any easier. Kudos all around And please do watch it until the very end for a very special scene.

In a time when most movies are all flour of the same bag, it's refreshing to see a touching, sensitive movie like this. There are many movies about dogs, few are about cats and even less so are about birds or other animals. This is one of those rare movies about birds.Basically it tells the story of a lonely dutch child with the strange name of Jojo and his special friendship with an adorable baby jackdaw. The kid has a peerless performance and so does the bird. The friendship and love between the boy and the bird is the best aspect of this good movie. Its worst aspect is Jojo's father, a cold and distant man with tendency for violence. Another thing I don't like in this otherwise great movie is the horrible way the innocent bird dies, even if it was accidental. The poor thing was loved by Jojo, hated by Jojo's father and died so horribly.The title of this movie strongly resembles "Cowboy", both written and spelled. But its meaning is entirely different.Title in Portugal: je ne sais pas.

The movie starts out the same way it ends. Whatever you do, see it with subtitles. If it does come out dubbed, I wonder if something may be lost.Jojo is a little boy, maybe 8 or 10, he's struggling with his mom not being around. he talks to her on the telephone telling her things about his life and the Jackdaw chick he's rescued from the nest. He initially tries to return the chick but the mother refuses and tries to attack him and the chick falls back out. He takes the chick home.Throughout the movie when you suspect that the tone is going to get deep and heavy and maudlin, it lilts back to life thanks to an incredibly moving soundtrack and Jojo's spirit with the connection to the Jackdaw chick. There's so much more going on in this movie than meets the surface. It's one of those that should be watched more than once. To see such a spectacular performance from the main character is simply amazing.No spoilers, just, if you're lucky enough to see this movie, enjoy it. It's worth the effort to find.

The first feature for the director is a character study involving a young boy (approximately 10 years old) and his father. The film opens with the young boy, Jojo, washing up and then being challenged by his father to a race that is a repeated pattern between them. After the race with his father Jojo discovers a jackdaw chick fallen from its nest in a tree. He climbs the tree intending to place the chick back in its nest but the chick falls from his grasp onto the ground, but survives a second fall. Admiring the chick's toughness Jojo takes him home to rear him.So begins a tale of the love and attachment between Jojo and the chick, named Jack. Interrupting their poignant and often funny relationship is Jojo's father who is presented as loving but prone to aggression. He does not agree with keeping the chick and twice releases the bird warning Jojo to not bring him home again. But as Jojo tells his father he and Jack are attached to one another and so they keep finding one another in spite of the father's warnings.During the film we see Jojo apparently talking to his mother on the 'phone. Although she never appears in the film as a character she is manifested through songs and photos that show she was a singer with Jojo's father. Her absence is revealed towards the end when we learn that she is dead and that Jojo will not admit this and allow himself to grieve her; and neither will his father. The film becomes increasingly piquant as Jojo and his father's grief are revealed and these feelings collide with the unfortunate accident that kills Jack.What sustains the film, rescuing it from being so distressing as to be devastating or sentimental, is the realistic relationship between father and son that is compelling and in which there is much love. The choreography and dialogue between the male actor playing the father and the child playing Jojo is spot-on. The director said that he was interested in the dynamics of father-son relationships and the film succeeds in portraying one such relationship.Jojo's relationship with Jack is symbolic of his attachment to his dead mother who he will not let go though his father urges and demands him to do so. Jojo keeps her flame alive in her music and his memories. The bird's death when it happens is shocking and an audible gasp was heard from the audience in the cinema; I gasped too. We never learn how Jojo's mother died but one can assume that the suddenness and impact of Jack's death reflects Jojo's experience of his mother's.A great first feature from the director displaying an adroitness in handling complex feelings and relationships. The bleak subject matter is elevated by the character of Jojo who is a vivid and vibrant character in which much hope is invested and the film closes on another flame lit in his life just as the ones for his mother and Jack are extinguished.(NB There were children in the audience when I saw the film and there was tears and shock from both children and adults. The film presents and does not shirk from the difficulties in a child's life and as such can be educative, in the best sense, for children providing their parents/guardians can bear the feelings and questions it evokes.)