Phobia 2

Next up in my little mini tour of Thai anthology horror films we have a repeat performance from those involve in “4bia” (with a additional Director added).  Notice that we have now dropped the horrible and hopeless pun on English, which makes sense as not only was it rubbish, but this time we have 5 stories.  Still no phobias involved though.  However, is it going to be a case of diminishing returns, with a cheap cash in on the popularity of the first collection?  Or maybe mistakes will have been learned from?  And again, I am going to be little brief on linking actors and actresses, as with this kind of ensemble piece, life is simply too short.

“Phobia 2” opens up with “Novice” in which a young delinquent has been sent to become a Monk to escape punishment for his crimes (he and a friend had a penchant for riding along on their Motorbike and throwing large rocks at passing drivers).  This is because, and the film does not make it clear, Monks are somewhat immune to criminal prosecution. Of course there is one thing living as a Monk, and another actually wanting this life, and our angry young man simply does not settle well.  He is also constantly haunted by a “Hungry Ghost”, some kind of Thai Spirit.  Will he learn is lesson, or will he get his final reward from the afterlife.

I liked this one… eventually.  It starts off pretty slowly, and the dislikeable protagonist doesn’t really help.  However, once darkness falls and the haunting start, it actually gets really good.  There’s at least two moments where the giant ghost is creepy around, vaguely in shot which work brilliantly, and a CGI snake versus lizard scene that is actually quite fantastic (a phrase I didn’t ever expect to write).  The back story works well, and for once we actually get a victim who is deserving of his punishment, something a little lacking in the original film.

“Ward” is a tale of a young man hospitalised after a motorcycle accident, leaving both his legs in casts.  He is forced to share a room with an old man who is basically brain-dead, simply waiting for his ‘family’ to come pay their final respects.  I say family, but he seems to be some kind of religious leader.  The young man however, is constantly creeped out by things happening in his room, including visions of the coma patient walking around and attacking him.  All of course is not what it seems.

This one I was a little more non-plussed by.  Sure, there is a fair amount of tension and traditional scares (especially with the sounds), but I didn’t feel the execution was quite right.  The final twist doesn’t feel wholly original, though there is at least one nasty moment that should please people who like to be grossed out.  There is nothing fundamentally wrong with the piece, but it is little more than adequate fare.

In “Backpackers” a young Japanese couple who are hitch-hiking around Thailand manage to get a lift with a Lorry Driver and his son.  Thing is, what they are delivering is a group of Drug Mules, and they have all died during the journey.  They stop, and everything hits the fan, as it becomes Zombie time, 28 Days Later style.

Utterly unoriginal.  Utterly fantastic.  Easily my favourite of the segments, this is nothing more than a good old fashioned (with a modern take) Zombie chase film.  Everything about it has been done before, but it is put together with class.  Over all the Phobia franchise, this is the one I would actually pay to see a full length version of.

“Salvage” is all about a woman who sells on cars that have previously been involved in fatal accidents.  This might have been ok, but she not only neglects to tell prospective buyers, but is downright untruthful about it.  One day however, a customer calls her out on it, and that evening her young son disappears in the parking lot, and she is visited by the ghosts of the victims.

This one was ok, and it actually has the best overall atmosphere and scares.  It failed however to really sell itself to me, and the final victim (a complete innocent) may have provided a nasty surprise, but for me it was there more for shock value.  It was perfectly reasonable, just didn’t engage me as much as the premise could have done.

Bringing up the rear is “In the End”, in which we get the four characters from “4bia’s” “In the Middle” returning, this time working on a horror film (“Alone 2”, of which the real original is our next review).  If you thought the first showing of these characters was meta, things are ramped up a level.  The young girl playing the classic “long haired girl ghost” in the film, gets very ill, and she may or may not have died, and returned to finish the film.  Which may or may not be the only ghost in the production.

This one I actually liked, although it was a little overlong.  Again the script is full of in-jokes, so be aware there are spoiler around.  What I liked best is the meta-commentary about what possible twists ghost stories can come up with now – the one in the-film-within-a-film is pretty good, but the actual punch line of this one really is genius.  Apart from the length, I do wonder somewhat about this short actually closing the film, it doesn’t feel quite the right way to end the sequence.  But a supporting role by Thai/German scream queen Marsha Wattanapanich does enough to win the day for me.  But we will talk about her much more next time out.

Overall, I am very shocked to say, I thought “Phobia 2” was a real success, and much better than the previous instalment.  Whilst there wasn’t a single entry as good as “Happiness”, the general quality on display was much better, and with “Backpackers” it showed that originality is nice, but just having a damn good story is so much better.  The film does lack a certain cohesiveness, with the loss of interconnected moments (you could say that transport is a connecting theme, but it is neither strong, nor the driving force behind the stories).  It actually works really well as a double bill, and I am pretty sure all but the most jaded of horror fans would find at least one segment that they could pop in their locker.  So, this one gets the Recommended seal!

4bia (a.k.a Phobia)

So after waxing on about how much I enjoyed anthology horror movies, it did seem somewhat remiss of me after looking at “3 A.M.” not to spend some time in the company in what was probably Thailand’s biggest hit in this mini-genre.  And while I am at it… a look at the equally successful sequel.  In terms of Directors, they actually have a good pedigree, and I have learned to look beyond mediocre IMDB ratings.  But first….. a rant.

The film is titled in the West “4bia”.  Which is I assume a play on “Phobia”.  Except, in no way does this work in English.  Not only that, but the stories are totally nothing to do with Phobia of any type shape and form.  It turns out that the actual Thai title when translated is more akin to “4 Crossroads”.  Which still isn’t fabulous, but I guess we do get the message there are four stories here (which isn’t true of the sequel!!).  Rant over.. on with the review.

We open with “Happiness” in which a young girl called Pin (Maneerat Kham-uan) is pretty much stuck in her apartment with a broken leg.  Her boyfriend has gone off on a camping trip with friends, and she is hiding from the rent collectors.  Boredom and loneliness are driving her insane, so when an unsolicited text message appears on her phone, her initial wariness is countered by the fact the person on the other end really wants to be nothing more than a friend.  She starts talking to him via text over a few days, enjoying their chats, even though she gets “number not available” when she attempts to actually call it, and her unseen friend is somewhere too cramped to have a laptop (as she would like to talk via MSN – how quaint these days!).  Things get a little bit more creepy though when she sends him a photo of herself, and his reply is the same picture back, insisting he he is next to her in it!  Things obviously escalate, and trying to stay spoiler-free, let’s just say things do not end happily, and that this is all connected to the incident in which she broke her leg.

I really loved this one.  It barely has any dialogue, but manages to use text messaging successfully (and show what a complete pain it is to old-school text in Thai).  It is full of interesting angles, and is shot in an attractive manner.  More importantly though, it really does start with a slow creepiness, that escalates.  We go from the point where the next text message tone/vibrate is something we are interested in, to something that provokes genuine terror.  What helps is that Maneerat Kham-uan is both an attractive and empathetic lead, managing to maintain the viewers focus and interest.  It is a perfect story for this kind of film, 25-30 minutes being just enough to explore the story, without it becoming boring and repetitive.

Next up is “Tit for Tat”.  This time we have a bunch of school delinquents who have been busted for taking recreational drugs, after being accidently exposed by a more nerdy classmate.  They bully this poor lad mercilessly, but he gets his revenge on them by invoking some black magic.  It simply does not work out well for any involved.

Now on the one hand, this is the most technically impressive segment with some flashy camerawork, fast edits, and some honest to goodness proper gore.  On the other hand, this style makes it almost impossible to watch without feeling seasick, and the actual story doesn’t require such a flashy approach.  Them , when it does calm down near the end, it introduces some of the worse CGI I have ever seen in a film.  it is frankly laughable, and any scares that might have been provided by the admittedly decent final revelation are lost because you will be laughing at the sheer awfulness of what is being displayed.  Cut behind the visuals, and the story itself is ok I guess, but certainly nothing terribly original: some nasty things happen to nasty people; using magic/curses to get revenge never works out well for anyone; and not getting involved and letting bad things happen is no defence.

The whole style changes in “In the Middle”, where four young men go on a rafting/camping trip (yes, one of them is the absent boyfriend from the opening chapter").  They spend their time ribbing each other and chatting about movies, until there is an accident out on the river, and one of their number appears to have drowned.  But, that night he returns, and his friends start to wonder if he is alive or a ghost, and if he has come to exact some kind of revenge.

I am torn on this one.  It is easily the most basic of the four stories in both story and execution, but there is a certain charm about the relationships between the four boys.  It is somewhat meta, talking about films not only by the Director of this short, but also some recent Hollywood attempts at the Ghost genre.  In fact, if you haven’t seen “Shutter”, “The Sixth Sense” or “The Others”, then prepare to be spoiled.  But if you are watching this, then you probably have, and therefore the final reveal is somewhat obvious.  The segment as a whole is nothing more than ok, it feels pretty stretched out, ironically treading water for a good deal of its running time.

We end with “Last Fright”, in which an Air Stewardess is assigned to accompany a foreign Princess on  a Charter Flight from Thailand to her home country.  And this Princess is a stuck up, horrible cow.  However, it becomes clear that the Stewardess has been picked for a reason, in that she was having an affair with the Royal husband.  She starts to react to the abusive behaviour by doing silly things like stirring the coffee with the heel of her show.  Then things somewhat rebound on the Princess when she refuses her own meal, and demand that of the Stewardess.  Silly because it is Prawn based, and she has an allergy to it.  And just picking them out does not work.  So the Princess dies upon arrival, and now the same girl must escort a corpse on the return flight (which now I write this makes zero sense).  Thing is, this corpse now has even more revenge in mind, and the terrorising really begins.

This is the segment I actually wanted to like the most, even if it is in some ways the least original.  Tension is built up and released nicely, but the first half is somewhat ruined by some pretty awful English dialogue.  It also seems to hold back a lot on the potential for scares and visualising the horror, and whilst this can be good in a horror movie, I didn’t feel it quite realised its potential.

All the stories, whilst not having any kind of common theme, are at least linked tangentially via characters that seem to exist within some kind of shared universe.  I appreciate that kind of detail.   Whilst the individual shorts are variable in approach and quality, I did have a fun time watching them.  Sure only one was exceptional, but the other three offer something, even when they are not complete successes.  I’ll chalk this one up as Mildly Recommended, maybe as a taster for better Thai Ghost stories.

3 A.M.

I do love a portmanteau horror film.  To be perfectly honest, if I lived in a world where all pop songs were 2 minutes long, and no film exceeded 37minutes I don’t think I would be terribly unhappy.  What I really like about these anthologies is that you can usually get something out of one instalment, even if the rest of it stinks.  Not only that, but maybe you get a chance to explore different Director, ideas and concepts.  In Asian Horror, I guess the gold standard is “Three … Extremes”, so I wonder how this little collection of Thai Horror movies stacks up against it?

The first of our tales in “3 A.M.” is “The Wig”.  It is set in a Wig shop, where warring sisters May (Focus Jirakul) and Mint (Apinya Sakuljaroensuk) have been left to run things whilst their parents are away.  May is the dutiful and responsible one, seeming to enjoy her work (the Wigs are mostly for people who have lost their hair due to illness or treatment), whilst Mint seems to take Amy Childs as her role model, very self centred and partial to fake tan.  Things hot up when May takes possession of some new hair, which unbeknownsed to her has been taken from a recent corpse.  Tempers rise between the sisters, especially when a bunch of Mint’s friends come round for a drinking session.  However, this stolen hair has bought along the vengeful ghost of the girl from whom it was taken, and our otherworldly visitor takes revenge on all.

This really was the least original of the bunch, copying the idea from K-Horror “The Wig” and of course the much loved in these parts “EXTE”.  For a 30 minute short, it is also pretty badly paced, spending far too long on the character set up, which in the end doesn’t really have any consequence on the latter part of the film.  The deaths are actually not bad, introducing some things I have not seen before, although the preponderance of what I assume of 3D money shots get old really fast.  As does the final couple of twists, which will come as no surprise to anyone.  It’s ok, but there are far better examples of this kind of cinema.

Up next is “The Corpse Bride”.  Medical student Tos (Tony Rakken) takes a side job of looking after the corpses of a young couple who died a week before their wedding.  It seems he just has to spend a few days there, performing various rituals, before they are sent to their final resting place.  Tos gradually uncovers evidence (stills on the digital camera, a movie on a video camera) that this was not the loving couple that people think, and that deceased Groom to be Mike was actually abusing the rather sexy Cherry.  Tos has to open up Cherry’s coffin when a lizard sneaks in, which leads to a somewhat uncomfortable moment, which in turn leads to Tos taking a rather unhealthy interest in the dead girl.  Spooky goings on ensue, which lead to the real truth being uncovered, and Tos finding out that obsession with sexy but fundamentally dead women is bad for your health.

I actually rather liked this segment.  And not because I think there is not enough necrophilia in cinema.  Although Cherry (Karnklao Duaysianklao) does make even having a Y-incision no barrier to being sexy.  It works for me, not just because it really is concerned with a real taboo subject, but because it is constructed so well, especially aurally, with lots of creepy creaks and bangs keeping us on the edge of our seats, whilst our stomachs lurch and toes curl about what is actually going on.  Now the necrophillia is more suggested than graphic (but then it is a Thai film, so I would expect nothing else, though I do seem to read that there maybe a more explicit version of this around), but there is enough there to make it quite clear what is going on.  If I have a real issue with the segment, it is that the uncovering of the truth makes sense overall, but doesn’t quite tally up with what we have seen previously.  But as a short and creepy ghost story?  It is the most successful of the bunch.

Finally we have “O.T. (Overtime)”, which brings us a lighter and more comic feel. Karan (Shahkrit Yamnarm) and Tee (Ray MacDonald) have a problem in their company.  It seems that many of their staff pretty much goof off all day, then come in to actually do their work at night, thereby claiming overtime.  So they devise a series of spooky pranks to teach their employees a lesson.  After stopping one pretty young thing from exposing herself on Facebook, their attention turns to Bump (Prachakorn Piyasakulkaew) and Nging (Kanyarin Nithinoparath), against and with whom an ever escalating series of pranks are played.  To be honest, it all seems a huge amount of teasing fun, and each of the four becomes accomplice and victim in each of the elaborate games.  Problem is, something happened very early on in the film, which we were not aware of, and some of the goings on are far more supernatural than the participants initially realise.

This one was actually a whole lot of fun.  If maybe a little hard to believe.  It sounds like Karan and Tee have been doing this for years, so one does have to wonder why they have not realise it really has had no affect on their slacker employees.  Maybe because they involve the same employees on pranks against each other and themselves?  Maybe if they spent more time on the job interviews, and less on expensive toys and property damage, they might be a little better off!  Maybe I am thinking about it too much .  It is all light-hearted stuff, although tonally it does jar against the preceding instalment.

Overall?  It is ok.  Nothing more than that.  No segment is particularly exceptional, though in each I found something of merit.  I was actually fearing much worse when the first two entries on the opening credits were the 3D specialists and the Acting coaches!  The 3D effects were pretty standard fare (I watched in 2D, but the special moments were pretty clear), although I was intrigued by the use of the surgical string in “The Corpse Bride”.  

The biggest flaw is that there is simply nothing really tying all these movies together.  The vague idea is that 3 a.m. is the time that Ghosts are at their strongest, but other than a couple of nods to clocks, little is made of this.  Maybe if there was an over-arching story this could have been made a little more solid (if nothing more than people sitting round a camp fire and sharing stories).  There are some minor scares to be had, and the necrophilia aspect does at least give the viewer something more than blood and gore to squirm over.  I’ll give is the mildest of recommendations, but in the world of Thai Ghost stories, I am sad to say this one will barely register.

Invitation Only

I am on a little mission to clear the decks of some films I have had laying around for a couple of years, which for various random reasons I have either never gotten around to, or maybe there are more personal reasons for avoiding.  This one falls very much into the first category, and frankly it is because the reviews are bad to middling.  Billed as Taiwan’s first Slasher flick, I decided I needed a bit of mindless horror in my life.  Not only that, but aside from “Dream Home” and a few CATIII Hong Kong attempts, this really is a sub-genre that simply does not get much airtime in Asian Cinema.  My guess is that there is so much Western content available, and it’s simply not in their historical oeuvre, that it just is not something that easily works culturally.  But, I set expectations to low, and with my mind slightly open, maybe it can surprise?

“Invitation Only”  is mostly the tale of High School dropout Wade (Bryant Chang), who seems to work a a chauffer for the very rich Mr Yang (Jerry Huang).  Wade is besotted by model de jour Dana (Maria Osawa), and is somewhat shocked to catch his employer having sex in the back of the car one day.  Initially peeved, Yang seems to think better of it all, and gives Wade an invite to a very exclusive party that he says he cannot attend, helping him with a cover story about Wade being his cousin.  Wade reluctantly agrees, though his reluctance is quickly neutered when he gets to the Party, which is frequented by Taiwan’s rich set, along with a bevy of beautiful and interested girls.  He wins big at the Roulette table, and doesn’t say no when Dana appears, seduces and ends up in bed with him.  Maybe the guy has caught a break?  Sadly, this is not the case, as Wade and a few other newcomers, including a pretty young girl called Hitomi (Julianne Chu) are ushered away to receive the other part of the invite – the promise to make a dream come true!  Wade has asked for a top of the range sports car, and is shocked to actually be given it.  Then, everything changes, as a series of hidden video tapes expose to them all that each and every one has been invited under false pretences – they are all actually much lower on the social strata.  And then the purpose of the party is revealed – they are going to be stalked and captured, then tortured to death on stage.  Can Wade and the rather resourceful Hitomi escape these blood thirsty group of millionaires?

I think the phrase for this one is Curate’s Egg.  The opening sequence that includes one of those parties that seems to be solely frequented by incredibly hot Asian lesbians (that phrase should ensure some google hits), and ending up with the tense Handbag sequence that informs the poster for the film, works well as a tense and icky set piece, but actually has nothing to do with the rest of the film (it certainly does not tally up with the reasonings behind all the later unpleasantness).  Then we get a really odd half hour, which is mostly about getting our characters on the chessboard, but is populated by a series of strange cameos by Maria Osawa, culminating in her getting her breasts out, simulating sex and meeting her maker.  Again, it doesn’t really work so well in the context of the story, and is nothing more than an excuse to attract the legions of fans of everyone's favourite Eurasian Japanese AV starlet.  The final hour is really about Wade and Hitomi attempting to escape, punctuated by what I can only describe as torture porn.

It is clear that Director Kevin Ko is very influenced by those who went before, homaging the work of John Carpenter and Lucio Fulci.  But what he is going for mostly is that Torture Porn feel, aping the unpleasantness seen in films like “Saw” and “Hostel”.  And whilst it works as disturbing spectacle, personally I find it overly distasteful and unrewarding.  If you like that kind of thing, then there are a couple of scenes that might interest you.  On the whole though, the slasher/horror aspects are nothing more than reasonably well done.  I do question what the idea of also torturing a Cockroach and a Mouse are though.

Acting on the whole is TV good at best.  People are one dimensional, and scream and gurn as required on cue, but there is little special here.  In fact Brant Chang is especially wooden, and doesn’t have any gravitas.  The exception is Julianne Chu, who does bring something extra, aided by the fact her character is actually rather resourceful, and isn’t completely a victim.

I have a feeling that the film makers thought they were being a lot cleverer than the final product turned out.  There is obviously a social commentary going on here, about the division of Taiwanese society as regards to the haves and the have-nots.  But it only really works when it has a consistent approach.  The deaths of the opening scene girl and Dana have no link to this, and some of the other characters who are targeted seem to have done nothing wrong.  This is especially true of Hitomi, whom I can’t really see any real justification.

It also is guilty of some terrible dialogue, including a new nadir in scripting for me.  “Is that a door?” one character says to another.  They are standing 10 inches away from it, and it certainly looks and acts like a door.  A locked one yes.  But a door nonetheless.  And it utterly fails to use up some of the actually interesting ideas, specifically that of these “guests” having wishes fulfilled.  Whilst it does give a reason to fit in the worlds shortest car chase, potentially fun ideas like Hitomi’s desire to be reunited with a favourite childhood teddy bear is simply forgotten about.

It really is a pretty average film at best.  But being unusually fair, it does provide some shocks, some tension and some gore.  For being able to do what it says on the tin, it gets the mildest of recommendation.  But it is badly put together, inconsistent with the interesting central idea, and the fact that everything is set up for a sequel that never happened?  Well that should tell you everything!

Dumplings

Cast your mind back to 2009, back when the blog was finding its feet, and I was listing 100 films I enjoyed.  Yes, it is actually time to have a little look at one of those films again. 

Sort of.

You see, back when I looked at Three … Extremes I was aware that one of the segments had been expanded into a feature film in its own right.  Finally, I got around to watching the expanded version, and it is time to see how I enjoyed seeing it in the more expanded format.  Or maybe it was better as a 37 minute short?

“Dumplings” fundamentally has the same story as the shorter version, albeit with a few extra story threads, and most importantly, a somewhat different ending.  Ex Soap actress Mrs Li (Miriam Yeung) has a problem.  Her Husband (Tony Leung) is a serial philanderer, and their marriage has become one of convenience.  Desperate to regain her husbands affections. she finds out about ex-mainland abortionist Mei (Bai Ling), who has a secret recipe for Dumplings that cannot only revive you like some fountain of youth, but also make you irresistible.  There is a catch though.  These Dumpling are made from, umm shall we say the waste product of her previous career.  Not only that, but as with all potential “fountains of youth”, it seems it is never quite enough for the recipient, and there is always the promise of a stronger alternative.

On the whole, this version of the film is pretty much more of the same.  Which actually hurts the film, certainly in the opening hour, as it seems to stretch out things which were equally as obvious in the more succinct format.  It also means that the great reveal happens much earlier in the running time, making the whole ickiness factor a different kind of horror.  On the other hand, it does provide more time for the glorious cinematography of Christopher Doyle, and even more exposure to the frankly brilliant soundscape that adds a layer of horror that is so much more satisfying than the normal horror movie loud bangs and sudden musical blasts.

There are a number of plot additions, most of which add little to the film overall (though the extended work with a poor girl who gets an abortion  because of incest adds a touch of tragic humanity), apart from one character who gets a little bit more screen time, which leads into a quite different ending.  Because that’s the real alternative on show here gentle readers, a new ending that puts a different twist on things.  They actually both work pretty well, though I maybe have a slight preference for this one,  only because there was a slight incongruity about an aspect of the one displayed in the shorter film.

I do also think that the film is allowed to explore some of its more satirical social commentary in this version, with the Mainland single child policy, the importance of male children, and the role of the female in a traditional Chinese marriage all getting much more time, making the film more than a somewhat visceral experience.

Miriam Yeung is adequate here, and whilst it is a stark contrast to her more usual ditzy roles, she does make Mrs Li  someone both abhorrent and maybe a little sympathetic.  The thing is, she is really overshadowed by Bai Ling, who brings a heady sexiness to her role.  Mei is really the centre of this story, even if most of what we know bout her is by exposition.  And whilst her wardrobe choices can appear a little questionable, there’s no doubt she is the sexiest 60+ year old in cinema.

Other than the early pacing struggles, my biggest complaint are two scenes of crappy clothed sex.  On two occasions, characters manage to do the nasty whilst keeping all their clothes on.  Now, I am not saying I need to see all the flesh, but there are ways of making such passionate encounters somewhat believable.  And when the Li’s have a moment of passion in a Hospital bed, the whole thing is made super awkward and frankly hilarious due to Tony Leung’s broken foot, turning  moment of sexual tension and release into something more akin to high farce.

So, overall, was it worth extending?  To be honest, I wasn’t really that won over by this version of the film.  The pacing was off, and whilst I preferred the execution of the ending, the 90 minute journey to get there simply wasn’t as interesting as the more condensed 37 minutes from “Three … Extremes”.  The film certainly has much more to say in a social commentary sense, but for pure disturbing horror, I think I would go every time back to that distilled concoction.  Recommended, but not essential.

Finding Mr. Right

Next up, a romantic comedy from China.  And we all know how usually unsuccessful they can be don’t we?  However, this one has three things going for it: it has done amazing business back in China; despite the ex-blacklist star being the wonderful Tang Wei (Speed Angels not withstanding!); and the Director being Xue Xiao-lu (who gave us the excellent but not reviewed here “Ocean Heaven”.  Could this mix of elements produce a proper rom-com from China that actually touches this reviewer?

In “Finding Mr. Right” we follow JiaJia (Tang Wei) on her arrival in Seattle from Bejing.  Now JiaJia is the Mistress of shady businessmand Zhong (never seen, occasionally heard), who has been sent to the States to give birth to their Son.  It turns out there are a number of Maternity Houses in the USA which provide pre and post natal care to Chinese women in such situations, totally illegal of course.  JiaJia appears to be little more than a selfish, money obsessed Gold Digger, influenced by Ma Nuo and her “I would rather cry in a BMW” statement.  Her benefactor has given her a no-limit credit card, and she wastes no time trying to use it and her brash attitude to get everything she wants.  Much of the brunt of this behaviour is taken by Frank (Wu Xiubo), an ex-Chinese Doctor, who has moved to the States because of the health of his Daughter and the important job of his Wife.  Frank now is little more than a driver for the women who have been sent over to the city, and he is quiet and withdrawn, basically a doormat, but with an honest heart.  JiaJia falls out with pretty much everyone, but it becomes quite clear that some of her behaviour is maybe a front, and only with Frank does the occasional glimpse of the real woman start to escape.  She befriends Frank and his Daughter, and a bond starts to grow, strengthened when her absent lover has his assets frozen due to fraud charges.  Frank has been keeping some secrets of his own mind you, so the question is, can these two people actually realise they are right for each other?

This really is a wonderful little movie.  It certainly takes many cues from “Sleepless in Seattle”, but for my money there is a fair bit more than romantic schmaltz going on here.  It takes a really interesting premise (I mean, how many other romantic films do we have the leading female heavily pregnant with someone's child for 98% of the running time?), and uses the foreign environment to gently explore all sorts of ideas about current Chinese mores such as materialism, opportunity, sexuality, healthcare and relationships.  It manages to be hilarious and heart-warming, but also carries a fair bit of weight in terms of darker emotions and feelings.

The film lives or dies however on the performances of its leading cast, and I am happy to say Tang Wei not only brings her A-game, but reveals abilities I really had not idea she had.  Up to now, her best work has been as quite down trodden characters, and impressive as she might have been, one got the feeling she was maybe a little one-note in her abilities and roles she had been able to take.  Here though she suddenly displays all sorts of skills I had only dared hope she might have – she is a brilliant comic, and her screen presence is astonishing, although not to the extent that she overwhelms the rest of the cast.  She actually has real chemistry with everyone she encounters, none more so than Wu Xiubo, who brings a quiet understated quality to his Frank.  He is about as far as a classic romantic foil as you can get, but in few words and actions you really get to feel what a fantastic guy he is, an unselfish caring Father, whose only real flaw is that he allows others to trample all over him.

Now, let’s be honest, we have all seen these kinds of films before.  One half of the romantic pairing is frankly unbearable, but the mix of an epiphany, and the influence of the other character, eventually brings about that match made in heaven.  And whilst there is a fair amount of this on show here, there is something a little more interesting going on, showing a depth in the writing that is unusual in such movies.  JiaJia may well appear at the outset to be utterly unbearable, the worst kind of cliché.  But then we have to remember that she has just been on a 12 hour flight, she’s pregnant, and has been basically sent away in near shame.  There is of course that moment of epiphany, but the real change starts happening much earlier in the movie.  Barely 20 minutes into the film, and JiaJia tells Frank that basically he shouldn’t judge her, that actually she is not the Gold-digging professional mistress she appears to be, and that she’s a far more complex individual, with a real heart of gold, and nothing means more to her than looking after her Son.   This not only makes JiaJia a more sympathetic character, but just shows real classy scripting.  Every scene after that breaks down that initial impression little by little.

The film is beautifully shot, making good use of Vancouver (as usual substituting for Seattle and New York, other than some 2nd Unit stuff).  If it has some flaws, they are minor.  One reveal about a fellow resident at the maternity house is possibly revealed a little too early (and could have been used in a more negative context, but sleeping on it I think dealing wit hit in such a mature way was actually a bonus), and it could have done with a little more interaction with real American people (other than a brilliant scene in a Wedding Dress shop, JiaJia rarely interacts with non-Chinese immigrants – her Doctor, the stand she buys some Crab from, Frank and his family are all Chinese).  But, these are minor quibbles at best.

No bones about it… I adored this film.  It has one towering performance, moments of hilarity and a surprising ability to touch your emotions.  I thought it might be good, but I wasn’t expecting it to be Highly Recommended.  Which it is.  Unreservedly.

The Neighbours

I have had this one on my to-watch pile for quite a long time, and in fact I only discovered it after a DVD avalanche last night when feverishly searching for another film completely.  But I was working late, and felt like maybe I needed something fresh and new to keep my attention.  It’s one of those Korean serial killer films, a genre that they seem to do rather well, plus it had a really interesting cast.  Did it manage to keep me awake during the long hours, or was it hiding unwatched for a reason?

“The Neighbours” is based around an apartment complex, where recently a spate of deaths have been occurring, and in the latest incident a young girl (Kim Sae-ron) was kidnapped and then found decapitated in a suitcase.  This puts the various residents on alert, wondering if the killer might be amongst them.  The girl’s step mother (Yunjin Kim) is wracked with guilt (as she failed to pick up her step daughter on the night in question), and his haunted by visions of the dead girl.  A Bag Salesman (Lim Ha-ryong) realises that he sold the suitcase in question to a resident.  A Pizza Delivery Boy (Do Ji-han) realises that he is always asked to go to the same address every 10 days, exactly the pattern of the murders.  A security guard (Chun Ho-jin), beset by demons from his own past, starts to realise what might be going on, but is reticent to intervene in case it exposes him.  A young girl (also Kim Sae-ron), bearing an uncanny resemblance to the last victim is a constant and popular presence around the complex.  And a minor Hoodlum (Ma Dong-seok) starts a personal war with a loner (Kim Seong-gyoon) who recently moved in over a parking space.  The loner is also constantly bothered by the Mother of the living girl (Jang Young-nam), as she is in charge apartment committee and is worried about plans for a new development.  All these various storylines intersect and combine together, leading eventually to a realisation of who the killer is, a kidnapping, and a race to save the young girl before she becomes the next victim.

This really is quite an ensemble piece.  Other than Kim Yunjin, few of the other actors will be household names outside of Korea, but they are all familiar faces for hose of us that have watched films and dramas.  And whilst it does run the risk of getting a little confusing sometimes (especially as much of the early part of the film jumps around a bit in time), I think it was all handled rather well, allowing every character to get some decent character development and their time to shine.  More importantly, I don’t believe anyone here was particularly superfluous.  The film is based on a popular Korean Webcomic, which I have not seen, but I assume was able to spend more time following down some of these tales, but here I really never felt too short changed.

Ironically, even though Kim Yunjin is the big name here, hers was the character that I felt least involved with.  She did little more than her now patented moping around act – and whilst that was fair enough with regards to the personality of her character, it simply did not grab me like some of the other performances on display.  Ma Dong-seok played his hoodlum role brilliantly, somehow making a loathsome character in the end a somewhat believable hero.  Jang Young-nam is always good value (and really deserves to be more than a supporting actress), and our Loner/Killer (no real spoilers here, it is pretty much a non-secret only a few minutes in) Kim Seong-gyoon is suitably both evil, yet tortured. 

The real star for me is Kim Sae-ron.  She really came to prominence in “The Man From Nowhere”, but here I thought she was amazing.  The girl is only 12 years old, but with little more than a prop wig, she managed to create two distinct characters, utterly different in personality.  Now, I am sure to asian eyes the visual similarity is much more telling, but it took me a long time to realise they were the same actress.  This young girl is going to be a huge talent.

There are many scenes which I utterly adored, such as the utter fail of the Killer to attack the Hoodlum.  The actual highlight for me is a little postscript, where the wife of a character who was kidnapped is told by her husband that he still wonders why he wasn’t killed.  The reason is then shown to us, that our killer was actually after company, as he was being haunted by the visions of the last girl he killed.  It’s a moment of sensitivity that I simply did not expect.

You may have guessed, that this is a pretty dark comedy at times (although it does have moments of melodrama, and you could make an argument for it being a Ghost Story too)  but then it would not be Korean if it didn’t mash up the genres now would it?).  And this is my real complaint.  The film at it’s core is about two things.  Firstly it is about how modern Korean society is getting very disconnected, whether it be between families or Neighbours.  Relationships break down, people keep suspicions and secrets from each other, there is no sense of community.  For this part of the film, the dark comedy is perfect.  However, it is also about a Child Killer (indeed, a Serial Killer) and sometimes I did wonder if the film was lacking a bit of respect and gravitas towards this particular theme. 

Some reviewers have complained that the film is a bit too jumbled, worried about too many characters, that it lacks focus.  Also that the conclusion isn’t quite epic enough.  I know where they are coming from, and I will agree that the film is not without its faults in this area.  But I pressed play really not expecting to enjoy the film that much, and ended up utterly engrossed.  It is certainly not a classic, but it is a pretty darn good watch, and when you add in a stellar performance, you get Highly Recommended!