Directed by:
Anh Hung TranScreenplay:
Anh Hung TranCinematography:
Juan Ruiz AnchíaComposer:
Gustavo SantaolallaCast:
Josh Hartnett, Yên-Khê Tran Nu, Byeong-heon Lee, Takuya Kimura, Shawn Yue, Elias Koteas, Álvaro Longoria, Jo Kuk Cho-lam, Carl Ng, Benito SagredoVOD (1)
Plots(1)
Two years after killing Hasford a serial murderer in the line of duty, Kline now works as a private detective, but he is still haunted by the ghosts of his past. A powerful pharmaceutical conglomerate boss hires Kline to find his only son Shitao who has mysteriously disappeared in the Philippines where he had been helping in an orphanage. Kline follows the trail left by the ethereal Shitao to the jungles of Mindanao, and then to the urban jungle of Hong Kong, where he enlists the help of Meng Zi, an old police officer friend. The search leads Kline to cross paths with local organized crime syndicate boss Su Dongpo, who is making trouble for the underworld, triggered by an overriding passion for his drug-addicted girlfriend Lili. Caught in the crossfire between the Hong Kong police and Su Dongpo's mafia drug ring which is also hunting for Shitao, Kline found himself alone, in this unknown city, when Meng Zi is victim of an assassination attempt and hospitalised. Leaving behind his 5-stars hotel for a shabby murder scene apartment in order to get inside the mind of Shitao, Kline gradually loses himself in the terrifying memories of Hasford, whose speciality was dissecting his victims' limbs while they were still alive, then reassembling them into installation sculptures. After a few weeks immersed in his haunted memories, torn between good and evil, Kline is about to leave Hong Kong when he finds Shitao, who has become a mysterious vagrant with healing powers. (official distributor synopsis)
(more)Reviews (3)
I am tuned to a completely different frequency than this film, and if I had read the comments more carefully, where I could have found a comparison to Lars von Trier's Antichrist, I could have saved myself an unpleasant experience and a lot of time. For others, there's no accounting for taste. Anyone can make vodka out of a piece of shit, as everyone who has seen The Life and Extraordinary Adventures of Private Ivan Chonkin knows very well. Overall impression: 10%.
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Hartnett’s back-story is superb and would earn 5 stars by itself, but not with the rest of it. I didn’t really like the religious storyline even though it created quite an interesting mix, with the Hong Kong underworld thriller element and the unusually unfolding detective story. Although if we consider the visual side (even a simple scene involving entering a glass-walled office looks just perfect) this is a masterpiece and the background music is also top-notch. You work for your husband. All of a sudden you realize that you side the wife, because you follow her around all the time. It seems to you that you know her better than anybody else. And when you find out that she is being unfaithful... the blood rushes to your head and your ears are burning hot. You feel like your heart is about to burst. You feel like it’s you who she is cheating. And at that moment she becomes the sexiest woman on the planet. Understand?
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Oh okay, so God runs a pharmaceutical corporation. ICWR doesn't know when to quit. Whatever. Tran completely fails to understand that half of an impressive shot is also the ability to cut it off at the right time. Everything here takes a disgustingly long time. Long green lawns, statues made of human bodies, nighttime views of... now I don't even know which Asian city it was, a cop's office overlooking a busy street.. shot all very nicely, but stretched out until it's not so nice anymore. Moreover, the story, despite its would-be inscrutability and multi-layeredness, is clear and direct enough that even the intellectual enlightenment at the end doesn't come. The music is mega-awesome and adds more points to the soporific impression. Three stars mainly because you probably won't see anything like this.
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