Tsui Ting-Yin is a successful romance novelist and has decided to change genres for her next novel to supernatural. After she begins writing she finds that her ideas seem to be breaking through to reality.
Directed by – Oxide Pang Chun, Danny Pang
Written by – Cub Chin, Sam Lung, Oxide Pang Chun, Danny Pang, Thomas Pang
Starring – Lee Sinje, Ekin Cheng, Lawrence Chou, Siu-Ming Lau, Rain Li, Jetrin Wattanasin, Yagi Zeng
Seriously, everyone involved with the Toronto After Dark Film Festival should be given some sort of award. Here is yet another great film that played at the 2006 fest, these guys and girls know how to pick them.
Re-cycle is one of the best looking flicks I have seen. Lee Sinje plays a novelist who winds up getting sucked into her own discarded ideas. It’s a world where everything she has ever abandoned or forgotten about exists. There’s mountains of doll parts, destroyed cities filled with amusement park rides, lush forests filled with creepy little girls and dead people and vast expanses of nothing. It’s like a children’s fairy tale gone wrong and it looks incredible.
The ghosts or zombies or whatever they are, are just plain creepy looking. Some are hanging from trees and their necks have all been stretched to lengths that are just abnormal. They twist and contort and crawl towards the characters and are really eerie to watch. Add to that the little girl wearing a mask and riding a giant metal rocking horse and I was in awe. And that’s just the visuals.
The story is perfect. I’m pretty sure I’ve seen the ‘writer finds their ideas come to life’ before but it gets a twist here. It’s not her ideas that are coming true but it’s a world where her unused ideas are coming true. I really, really don’t want to say much more than that because the film is so well done that to tell too much of the story would just ruin it. The ending left me scratching my head and I had to listen to the director’s commentary just to make sense of it. They even go so far as to point out that the ending is very confusing for so many people that they wanted to explain it. This does not take away from the movie at all though. Honestly I’m kind of brain dead when it comes to figuring films out. I shut my brain off and enjoy the ride so often that I usually can’t tell when the ride ends anyway. A very simple two sentence explanation was all I needed, and got, to understand the film fully.
Max, over at asianfilmreviews, had mentioned this one in his blog that I had just read yesterday a few hours before I watched the film. He mentioned that some had mistaken this flick as a message for the director’s anti-abortion stance. I’m not sure how far off that is because by the end of the film I could see how that idea might be conveyed. If that was the intent of the directors than they have a very powerful message here. I’ve got to say that it seems that way to me.
This one isn’t overlly horrific but it does have it’s scare moments at first. Throughout most of the film the fright comes from the ghost that you can see, slowly making it’s way towards you with death in it’s eyes. I prefer this style over the seat-jumpers that are placed throughout most films today. Yeah I get a good shock when something jumps out and the music crashes into your ears suddenly, but nothing fills you with fright the way it does when you can see what’s coming for you and it’s in no hurry to get there. It’s that slow build up of tension and fear that does it just right. This is a must see for the fans out there. I highly recommend this one and I swear if all the readers out there just lived closer I’d set the damn thing up in the backyard for all of us to watch, it’s just that damn good.
Under the marquee – Will
I actually recently reviewed this film on my own blog. I rented it from Netflix and loved it so much I went out and bought it immediately after. The visuals really are outstanding. The movie as a whole kinda reminded me of “What Dreams May Come.”
I loved the ending. I haven’t listened to the commentary, but I thought it was easy enough to figure out. Didn’t see it coming, though. It was brilliant. One of my favorite endings. It really made the movie that much better for me.
What Dreams May Come was an incredible movie that I haven’t seen in so long, although I do have it here in my collection somewhere.
See, I got the general idea of the ending and I understood what was going on throughout the film, but there was just something about the end that was lost on me. Like I said, a two sentence explanation cleared it all up for me at least.
I’ve heard some good things about this one, but haven’t seen it yet. It sounds GREAT!! Mountains of doll parts and abandoned amusement rides? Creepy little girls and dead people wandering about? And a good story to boot? You definitely sold me!
I’m the biggest cuba gooding jr fan, seriously. What dreams may come was awesome and this film sounds right up my alley. I’ll buy this film AND come over as you set it up for everyone to watch
Thanks for the recommendation! Time to watch it this weekend, and if its as good as you say, ill review it on my site if you dont mind.
Alright, I better start popping the popcorn before all these people show up for Hagi’s Backyard Screening Extravaganza! HAHA! I can’t imagine any of you guys wouldn’t like this one, it just looked so awesome. I’ll probably go back and watch the whole thing with the commentary track on just to hear more about the film.
Can’t wait to hear what you think Cello. Hope you enjoy it.