April 20, 2021
Director: Cheng Wei-hao
Screenplay: Cheng Wei-hao
Biotechnology magnate Wang Shih-tsung (Samuel Ku) had been brutally murdered in his elegant mansion. Prosecutor Liang Wen-chao (Chang Chen) had been assigned to handle the difficult case because of his seniority and experience, despite his currently critical health condition. His pregnant wife Pao (Janine Chan) was a member of his investigating team.
Wang's second wife Li Yan (Sun An Ke) testified that the murder was committed by Wang's unstable teenage son Tien-yu (Erik LIn), who had once promised to avenge the suicide of his long-suffering, depressed mother Tang Su-chen (Baby Zhang). Dr. Wan Yu-fan (Christopher Lee), Wang's trusted best friend who had developed a revolutionary technology of RNA surgery for cancer, was dragged into the case when his name showed up on the will.
At first, I thought this was going to be a typical horror movie about a restless soul getting revenge on those who wronged her. The initial scenes had horror tropes of dark stormy nights, bizarre religious rituals and scenes of demonic possession. However, as the story went on, it turned out to be a complex, thought-provoking piece of medical science fiction, with surprising prickly LGBT issues on the side.
The committed acting of the cast is commendable, especially that of Chang Chen who reportedly fast-tracked a loss of 24 lbs for this role for him to look as emaciated as a man dying of cancer. Writer-director Cheng Wei-hao displayed an assured and engaging storytelling style as he skillfully unfolded twist after twist up to the very end, making the whole 2-hour running time a most gratifying ride. 8/10.
Director: Ryuichi Hiroki
Screenplay: Nami Sakkawa
One night, cosmetic surgeon Rei Nagasawa (Kiko Mizuhara) received a surprise phone call from Nanae Shinoda (Honami Satô), a girl she became obsessively in love with way back in high school. When Rei accepted Nanae's invitation to meet in her hotel room, she learned that Nanae was a victim of domestic abuse. Rei decided that she was willing to go kill Nanae's husband in order to avenge and rescue the first woman she ever loved.
The two beautiful lead actresses have to be committed to their off-kilter roles. They gave it all with their realistic sex scenes in full frontal nudity, which just stopped short from being pornographic. Some supporting characters gave memorable scenes like that of Rei's current lover saying goodbye on the phone, and that of the taxi driver's style of soliciting sex. However, the actor playing Rei's brother was so just hammy in all his scenes, he came across as unintentionally funny.
The cinematography was beautiful, with some nice unexpected camera angles, and occasional shakiness to add grit. The choice of Western pop songs to accompany certain scenes was surprising. I particularly liked that gorgeous scene tracking the girls driving in their red BMW convertible across a long bridge spanning over calm blue waters, gracefully accompanied by the song "Shoot the Moon" by Norah Jones.
This was based on a manga which could explain the graphic depiction of sex and violence. A daring heterosexual sex scene and a similarly daring lesbian sex scene served as the bookends to bolster the rather uneven middle section. At 142 minutes long, this was rather rambling movie about two mentally-disturbed women who cannot even describe what their relationship exactly was -- not really friends, not really lovers. 6/10.
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