Silent Friend (M, 147 mins)

This gorgeous, unusual film never lets us lose sight or the sound of the natural world.

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It envelops us from the start - from the opening microscopic close-up of a gingko seed bursting out of its casing, to the final credits in which all the trees and plants that have made an appearance take a bow.

Loosely structured with a visual artist's eye, this film wraps itself around you like the 3D experience taking place at the IMAX next door.

Hong Kong actor Tony Leung Chiu-wai has the main billing, as a neuroscientist, a gentle man who studies babies before they acquire language. He's fascinated with how they perceive the world, responding to it in its totality, like being high all the time.

At his age, Professor Tony tells his students, he would love to return to being like that, alive and alert to everything around him.

A visiting professor at a German university during the early months of the COVID-19 epidemic, he becomes stranded with time on his hands during the shutdowns.

So he explores his surrounds, particularly the nearby gardens. Slowly but surely, he begins to find the giant gingko biloba tree, an ancient species that has come to signify resilience and longevity, enthralling.

The tree connects Tony with Alice (Lea Seydoux), a plant botanist. Their connection will ultimately have an impact on the gingko and its well-being into the future.

It is the same venerable gingko that stands in the background of a photograph that Tony finds of a young woman who was among the first female students........

© Canberra Times