The Goddess of 1967 [DVD]

The Goddess of 1967 is a drama from director Clara Law (Floating life) a native of Hong Kong, who lives and works in Australia. Boy (Rikiya Kurokawa) is a Japanese internet hacker and snake enthusiast whose dream car is a 1967 Citroen - the Goddess of the title - which he locates in Australia. When he goes to collect however he discovers the owner dead and he is forced to make a deal with Deirdre (Rose Byrne), the car owner’s blind and emotionally bereft niece. Boy agrees to take Deirdre to her outback hometown (a five day drive) where she plans to confront her estranged and abusive father. This film is saturated in an array of dense colours and images that are overwhelming with their beauty and poignancy. Deirdre’s blind and passionate dancing in a local bar; the burning of an old church; the otherworldliness of the Japanese settings - are all compelling scenes. Both Boy and Deirdre are running from dark pasts (witnessed in a series of flashbacks) but must reconcile their histories in order to move forward individually and as a couple. At times confounding with a desultory narrative, “The Goddess of 1967” ultimately succeeds as a film about family and treachery, revenge and forgiveness.