MOVIE OF THE WEEK May 8, 2026: SILENT FRIEND
Like a prestigious literary novel, Hungarian filmmaker Ildikó Enyedi’s deliberately paced drama Silent Friend deftly weaves together three stories that might seem, at first glance, to have little in common but are actually all variations on the same theme, connected by the same majestic, impassive ginko tree. Situated on the grounds of a German university, that tree — the titular silent friend — offers comfort and inspires curiosity over the course of more than a century.
As the film opens, viewers are introduced to renowned neuroscientist Tony (Tony Leung Chiu-wai), an expert in the field of consciousness who finds himself virtually alone on campus after Covid shuts the world down in 2020. Left with little to do, he spends time pondering the tree and designs an experiment to study how it might be perceiving the human world. Meanwhile, in 1908, pioneering female science student Grete (Luna Wedler) is fascinated by the natural world — and, eventually, by seeing and capturing it through the lens of a camera. And in 1972, Hannes (Enzo Brumm) is drawn to fellow student Gundula (Marlene Burow), who has designed a garden around the ginko and is monitoring the response patterns of a carefully cultivated potted geranium.
The three stories unfold in intercut sections, with Enyedi’s direction and Gergely Pálos’ thoughtful cinematography always making it instantly clear which time period viewers are currently in. The 1908 scenes are filmed in warm black and white, the 1972 sections in slightly grainy color that evokes the film of that era, and the 2020 segments in crisp digital focus. In each part of the story, the protagonist experiences an epiphany, a new way of seeing plants and their role in the world. And each tries to figure out how to document that role with science and technology, blending the natural with the unnatural to reveal unseen truths.
Silent Friend is purposely slow and thoughtful, reminding audiences that the speed of nature is much slower than that of the people bustling around and through it. Indeed, Enyedi seems to be saying that it’s by taking the time to stop, to observe, to think, and to perceive that we can truly appreciate the vast variety of life that’s all around us — and perhaps, through that process, create stronger connections with each other as well. — Betsy Bozdech
Team #MOTW’s comments:
Nell Minow: Three stories from three different eras, filmed in three different styles, about characters from a range of countries, are braided together with grace, elegance, and a quiet patience in Silent Friend, the story of a ginkgo tree on a university campus and the people whose spirits are touched by connection to the natural world.
Monique Jones Silent Friend is a unique meditation on how humans and nature are intrinsically intertwined, whether humans realize it or not. Seeing three different stories across decades revolve around one tree reminds us that we might think we’re alone or the only factors influencing the world around us, but nature influences and observes us as well. The particular storyline about testing to see how the tree (and other plants) react to humanity and other stimuli is a thought-provoking reminder that everything in nature is alive and has consciousness. It’s something humans would do well to remember, especially in these Anthropocene times.
Leslie Combemale That Silent Friend’s writer/director Ildikó Enyedi is more focused on examinations of her three characters’ connections to natural life than on tidying up storylines and character arcs doesn’t reduce the impact or resonance of the film. There are more important things, like the very heady queries about human’s connection to the natural world, the reality of sentience in the plant kingdom, and the majesty and poignancy of long-lived trees. Silent Friend requires patience, but If you don’t walk away after the end credits pondering the meaning of life and the beauty of nature, you might want to go sit outside and commune with the nearest Pine, Ginkgo, or Juniper you can find.
Jennifer Merin Hungarian filmmaker Ildikó Enyedi’s exquisite Silent Friend is a magical and quietly thrilling fiction feature that explores the interdependency — and communication — between human beings and plant life. Screenwriters Enyedi, Tina Kaiser and Corinne Le Hong give us three story lines, each of which tracks the character arc of a curiosity-driven student of cosmic neurology. The stories are set on the campus of a German University, but occur in different time periods and each character has a different approach to collecting data. Centered on a towering, flourishing, ages-old ginko tree in the university’s botanical gardern, the stories are equally compelling in their search for universal truths and a feeling of connection with the unseen universal forces of nature. The experiments and the conclusions they come to are wonder-packed scifi mixed with quite credible magical realism. Silent Friend is slow-paced, giving viewers time to contemplate the implications of it all. The camera work is abslutely magnificent and other cinematic crafts are realized perfectly. No flaws to disrupt the film’s flow. After viewing this remarkably creative, totally nonviolent movie, you can’t help but agree that plants are our friends! With not one iota of proselitizing in sight, Silent Friend strongly advocates for saving our natural world. Elegantly delivered, it’s a message we all need to hear.
Sandie Angulo Chen: Like the 2018 novel, Richard Powers’ The Overstory, Ildikó Enyedi’s latest film Silent Friend is a lyrical meditation on the profound relationship between humans and the natural world. Told across three loosely interwoven stories spanning more than a century in the medieval university town of Marburg, the original drama explores loneliness, the search for meaning, and the desire for connection with one another and with nature itself. Tony Leung delivers a standout performance as a neuroscientist in the contemporary storyline, but each segment offers its own moments of quiet, thought-provoking insight.
Loren King A majestic, centuries-old gingko biloba is more than a metaphor in Hungarian director Ildikó Enyedi’s breathtaking film. The gingko in the botanical gardens of a university in Marburg, Germany anchors the film’s three narratives across time centering on different characters who change and grow thanks to their relationship with plant life. In the opening tale, Tony Leung Chiu-Wai, memorable in so many great Chinese-language films, is a Hong Kong neuroscientist on a visiting professorship in Marburg. Feeling out of place, he becomes intrigued and inspired by French scientist Alice Sauvage (Léa Seydoux) and her research on plant communication. Then there’s the summer of 1972 and a young couple (Enzo Brumm and Marlene Burow) that bond over caring for a plant. In 1908, Grete (Luna Wedler) is the first female student admitted to the university. She battles sexism to study botany but begins to see plants anew through her developing interest in photography. Cinematographer Gergely Pálosand gives each era and storyline a distinctive look that contributes to making Silent Friend a stunning sensory experience.
Liz Whittemore Silent Friend shines in its brilliant visual juxtaposition of nature and emotion. This is a film made for cinephiles, botanophiles, and nueroscientists alike, with deliberate and quietly celebratory pacing. It is a remarkable exploration of time, science, and the connections between plants and people.
Cate Marquis A centuries-old, towering ginkgo tree in the botanical garden near the campus of a German university is the common thread connecting the stories of three scientists at that university, in Hungarian director Ildiko Enyedi’s intriguing, visually-thrilling drama Silent Friend. Painterly photography of the lovely, tree-filled campus, supplemented by striking, artistic micro nature photography, gives this drama spanning three time periods a dreamy, ethereal quality. The film tells the stories of three scientists on the same campus, in different time periods but all doing experiments to advance the understanding of plants and communication between plant and humans. Read full review.
FILM DETAILS:
Title: Silent Friend
Director: Ildiko Enyedi
Release Date: May 8, 2026
Running Time: 147 mnutes
Language: English and German, Cantonese with English subtitles.
Screenwriters: Ildiko Enyedi, Tina Kaiser, Corinne Le Hong
Lead Performers: Tony Leung Chiu-wai, Luna Wedler, Enzo Brumm, Léa Seydoux, Marlene Burow
Distribution Company: 1-2 Special
AWFJ Movie of the Week Panel Members: Sandie Angulo Chen, Betsy Bozdech, Leslie Combemale, Monique Jones, Loren King, Cate Marquis, Jennifer Merin, Nell Minow, Liz Whittemore
Other Movies Opening This Week
Edited by Jennifer Merin
