zephyrin zoetrope

Caught this at GV's Blog Aloud session earlier this evening - must applaud GV for bringing down the two directors for a Q&A session, although the fact that I could not use my prize tickets for Cinema Europa and other screen times is a really frustrating point. Come on, GV marketing team, don't make it so hard for bloggers to do film reviews.

Alone is the second outing for directors Parkpoom and Banjung, who are better known as the brains behind the last scary Thai flick Shutter. This time, the chaps tackle the story of an ill-fated pair of Siamese twins (literally), Pim and Ploy, whose separation leaves one of them dead. The other goes on to Korea to make a fresh start in life, but when her mother suffers a stroke in Thailand, she is compelled to return to a home with bittersweet memories. Accompanied by her boyfriend, she finds herself terrorised by visions of her dead twin. Confused and afraid, she wonders if she is losing her sanity, but when her boyfriend begins to share her visions, a frightening secret begins to unravel.

I do wish the Q&A session had lasted longer - so many questions to ask and so little time. It's a shame that few in the audience had any questions when this was clearly a great opportunity to know the directors. They shared that the film took two years and a US$2.5m budget to materialise, and that this was a better outing for them than Shutter, because it gave them a lot more room to explore and experiment creatively.

I thought it was a little of both yes and no. While Alone clearly demonstrated more maturity and confidence behind the lens, it somehow lacks the lingering creepiness of Shutter, choosing to rely on more of the loud, sudden shock moments instead. That the script arc attempted too much in too little time also dragged down the credibility of the film, and that always hurts any horror flick. Credit must be given though, to the duo for working hard to create new creep moments in typical horror setpieces, and for acknowledging that they would not shy away from heavily utilised camera tricks and angles as long as they could refresh elements and as long as they were integral to the story. Fresh face Marsha also did a pretty commendable job in trying to portray the two key roles at the same time, although her weaknesses were due more to the awkwardness of the character development than her acting.

Nonetheless, Alone is still a pretty good scarefest, if you can overlook some of the plot's big loopholes and illogical points. Then again, if every female lead demonstrated some common sense when confronted with a big scary-looking house, most horror films would end in ten minutes. Just empty your mind, then go in and have a good scream!

First things first, an apology to my friend Liyi (if she ever reads this) for dragging her along on this free preview. Liyi has a lower tolerance level for slow-moving movies than I do, but even I have to concede that Lucky You is about as exciting as watching paint dry. I still bow to the greatness that is Curtis Hanson’s L.A. Confidential (even 8 Mile was surprisingly decent) so I went on blind faith, thinking this wouldn’t be too bad, and the disappointment was quite hard to take, despite a very promising, and possibly the only great, first five minutes with a pawnbroker.

Like the dodgy showman who sells you an entertaining skit before he puts out his mediocre wares, Lucky You disappoints not because it is poorly produced or shot, but simply because the film starts on a high, before flat-lining all the way through to the end. Eric Bana plays Huck Cheever, a talented Las Vegas poker player who cuts cards at the table with sharp hands and even sharper eyes, but mucks up his personal relationships like Mr Bean on crack. Up against his own estranged father and reigning champion L.C. Cheever (yeah, the Hokkien vulgarity synonym kind of fits him), played by a painfully under-utilised Robert Duvall, Huck must keep his personal emotions in check if he is to dethrone his old man.

But things are made even more challenging as he encounters the new girl in town, Billie Offer (Drew Barrymore), an aspiring singer who seems to be as good at reading people as he is, except that she believes in the goodness of people, sharing, trusting and sugar and spice, whereas Huck belongs to the camp of divide and conquer. This movie doesn’t have a lot going for it, and much of that is awkwardly obvious. Hanson based Lucky You (I haven’t figured what the title alludes to) on the world poker scene of 2003, when its popularity exploded with online avenues where average people could polish their card skills. 2003 was also the year when Chris Moneymaker became the poster-boy for Internet amateurs, by winning the Poker World Series and the $2.5m jackpot.

Unfortunately, the movie doesn’t bring across the same kind of energy or feverish intensity from the period it is supposed to portray. The film’s consultants may be impressed by the authenticity of its sets, but it is hardly gripping stuff. Poker is notoriously difficult to translate to screen (it’s no coincidence that Casino Royale’s driest bits are in its table sequences, but at least it had some tense distractions) and Hanson shows an alarming lack of awareness in allowing the movie to just build on technical jargon and a snail of a plot. In his desire to mirror the direct contrast between the qualities needed to succeed in poker and in relationships, i.e. deceit versus trust, Hanson seems to have forgotten about all the other fundamentals that make a good movie.

Non-gamblers (yups, that's the two of us) would be so lost in this movie’s cardspeak, while romantics would probably feel starved by the lack of chemistry amongst the entire cast. Everyone seems to be doing their own repetitive thing. Duvall slips into his veteran mode but doesn’t do much else with the unimaginative dialogue. Drew Barrymore rehashes her karaoke-Sophie from Music and Lyrics with a little less kookiness and a little more country lass charm, but is still as bland. Debra Messing (Will and Grace) is actually just about the only hot factor in this movie (oh, those alluring vocals and eyes) but her character is totally superfluous as Billie’s elder sister.

Bana probably suffers the most career damage from taking on this Las Vegas venture, huffing and puffing with endeavor, but adding nothing to his acting repertoire with this poorly-developed role, and seems to be heading ominously towards pre-Hulk days.

By the time the movie wraps up, you’re not much further from where you were at the beginning, despite two precious hours gone by, which is a cardinal sin for any director, hot shot or not.