After This Our Exile : Aaron Kwok still mediocre to these eyes

Both Aaron Kwok and Gow Ian Iskander – the father and son referred to in the Chinese title of the movie – won acting accolades for their performances at Taiwan’s Golden Horse Film Awards in November. I have always found Aaron Kwok a mediocre actor and was not impressed with his award winning role in Divergence, so I was curious to find out whether he had improved.

Most of After This Our Exile was shot on location around Ipoh, Malaysia by Hong Kong new wave director Patrick Tam. This is the first film Tam has directed for over a decade. Technically, Tam has shot a beautiful film that is finely edited with nice montages. The screenplay features a minimal plot but concentrates instead on the inner psychology and emotions of the father and the son. Film length veers towards being overlong – but this is obviously not intended to be a commercial blockbuster, which is evident from the exquisite opening shots. I found the soundtrack to be the weak link on the production side of the film – it felt like a rushed job and the music even reduced the impact of the visuals on a few occasions.

On the acting side, I was impressed with the Gow Ian Iskander who stars as the son. This is his screen debut but he is a natural and successfully generated sympathy for the character. The same cannot be said for Aaron Kwok. Kwok delivers a self-conscious and at times over-the-top performance – you nearly always feel he is “acting”. Kwok, and for that matter all the Hong Kong actors, over-stress the Malaysian Chinese colloquialisms.

Verdict : a niche film that I feel is over-rated in terms of acting, but is nicely shot and edited by Patrick Tam.

The Grudge 2 : Edison Chen makes his Hollywood debut

The J-horror craze is near its end but Hollywood is still trying to cash in with The Grudge 2, starring Hong Kong’s very own Edison Chen. Is the The Grudge still scary despite nearly half a dozen sequels and is Edison any good in his Hollywood debut??

The answer to the first question is simple : The Grudge 2 is still decently scary but has lost the freshness that made the original Japanese Ju On such a success. Director Takashi Shimizu’s camera work continues to create chilling scenes and despite being an American production, the film does offer J-horror’s eerie atmospherics.

As for Edison Chen, I found his performance at best wooden. Most Asian actors stumble with the dialogue – which is not the case with Edison. His English sounds perfectly natural and fine – but he lacks the ability to make us feel his character’s sense of fear and desperation. Well, at least, he looks cool on screen.

As an aside, Takako Fuji (the boy who plays the naked little boy ghost) has grown quite a bit since he first played the role in Ju On. I found it a bit odd that a “ghost” would grow up. I think they need to hire another child to play this role if they are going to make another sequel.

Verdict : watchable if not exceptional

Saw 3 : the same old trick is getting rusty

I came to experience the gruesome first Saw film on DVD as none of the cinemas showed it at the time. I found Saw thrilling with a low budget sensibility to offend and be fun at the same time. When Saw 2 came out on DVD, I bought the disc immediately and thought it was less appealing than the first film.

When Saw 3 finally made it to the big screen here, I chose to see the film at a cinema to see if it would pack more of a punch. I found Saw 3 totally disappointing – it delivers very few thrills, but a lot of gore (including an open brain surgery) that seems to be there just to gross out viewers. And Saw 3 is not longer a fun thriller but a sadistic movie with very little plot. Apart from the predictable plot twists at the end, the film takes quite a while to get going and film length is too long for my liking. Jigsaw (the chief villain) plays a lesser role in this 3rd instalment and the film is notably less entertaining because of this.

Verdict : a disappointment.