Darkness, crashing waves, and a mysterious painting–these things and more surround equally mysterious individuals. As these individuals go about their lives, and as they struggle with the realities of the world that surrounds them, viewers are pulled into this reality with them. Wild Geese Returning is a journey through the noir, and viewers have no choice but to come along for the ride.
I know that Wild Geese Returning is a beautiful film, but there are aspects of the film that I struggle to analyze using words–and that is the deeper meaning. Sometimes I just have to trust my instincts–and this is a situation in which I have to do just that.
Aesthetically, there’s no denying how incredible Wild Geese Returning is, and from the opening moments viewers are taken on a visually appealing ride. Entirely in black and white, the dark, colorless tones create a reality that may not mirror the real world in regard to the aesthetic, but it does in terms of the tone and the mood. It feels as if Wild Geese Returning is full of struggle, like each and every piece of the characters’ lives is challenging–and I relate to that. Not everything is difficult, but it’s easy to see the relationship between what they are dealing with and what the real world deals with on a regular basis. Those challenges are represented so well on screen, and I became fully immersed in this fictional world in ways that not many films before have been able to accomplish.
Acting with no dialogue is far more challenging than many might expect, as actors now have to rely almost entirely on their facial expressions and body language. Dan Berkey, Sevin Ceviker, and Manjie Yang are tasked with something that feels nearly impossible. They must bring this story of darkness and pain to life without their words, and they do a phenomenal job from beginning to end. They present viewers with raw emotion that touches them–it brings them close to tears. Not being able to understand your own emotions is a struggle, and that’s part of what is presented to viewers. It feels almost impossible to fully understand what is occurring throughout in regard to the emotion–and that ambiguity, the sense of being unaware is gut wrenching and trying. Wild Geese Returning reaches viewers in a very visceral way, and it doesn’t relent throughout its entirety.
It’s not often that you find a film so beautifully put together, and yet it’s still difficult to express what it is that makes it so good. Wild Geese Returning is just that–so obviously beautiful, but so difficult to understand. However, it’s possible that this is what makes it so beautiful–that inability to fully understand. Life is often that way. It’s rarely fair, it rarely gives you all that you need to survive–and that’s what Wild Geese Returning does. It forces viewers to make their own way, and it forces them to realize that getting answers will be anything but easy. Writer-Director Dah Ming knows what he’s doing, and he knows how to reach his viewers in an emotional fashion–never relenting, but still never giving them quite enough to understand it all. He captivates his viewers throughout, knowing just what to do to keep them engaged, reeling for more–never entirely sure if they will ever get the answers that they crave.
Written & Directed by Dah Ming.
Starring Dan Berkey, Sevin Ceviker, & Manie Yang.
⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐½/10
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