Ahoy, squirts! Quint here with a review of an Asian horror flick by one of the Pang Bros (THE EYE) called ABNORMAL BEAUTY. I haven't seen this one yet and I missed the screening tonight, but I have to say I'm really looking forward to it. This isn't the first very positive review of the flick I've heard. Lucky to us in Austin that the "R-POINT" print had a "shipping problem." I've seen R-POINT and it's awful. Dreadful, even. Now enjoy the spoiler-lite review from "Ichi"!
Hey Harry -
Long time reader, first time writer. Just wanted to drop you a line and give you the skinny of an Austin Film Festival screw-up that paid off...big time! I've been attending the festival and even saw you at the Saturday screening of "Ghostbusters." Well, the panels are done and all that's left are the films! Tonight was Asian Horror Night, with a little Korean film called "R-Point" and the trifecta of terror from three Asian greats, "Three...Extremes."
However, mere hours before "R-Point" was supposed to come on, I get an e-mail, stating the film was "mishandled" between festivals and the AFF could not obtain a print. So, a quick fix, and the Pang Brothers "Ab-Normal Beauty" filled the slot. At first, I was very skeptical. How did they get a print so fast? My answer arrived mere seconds as the film began...check that, as the DVD began. That's right, folks! I'm sitting at the IMAX, with its screen reaching to glorious heights, watching a DVD. A good transfer, but a DVD nonetheless. They weren't made to grace the silver screen, and especially not the grandest of grand silver screens.
Anyway, the film started up and two minutes in, I realize mistake number two...The subtitles suck! Obviously the DVD was some import with "literal" English translations. One line had me in stitches: When someone asks the main character, "What's wrong?", the subtitle reads "What has caused the countenance in your attitude?" Still, despite the poor quality and the groan-inducing subtitles, I gave the film a chance.
And it paid off. In the age of overdone teen slasher flicks and blatantly piss-poor Japanese horror remakes comes this fresh horror film that dares to go where American films do not. The Pang Brothers are probably most famous for "Bangkok Dangerous" and "The Eye," but this, their latest offering, had me with white-knuckle tension throughout. The story follows a young teen named Jinny, who's an aspiring photographer and is in some quasi-pseudo-lesbian relationship with her best friend Jan (kind of like the relationship in "Heavenly Creatures," but just to make it more eerie, the two actresses here are actually sisters in real life). Jinny's mother is well-off, and travels to the US, leaving some money in Jinny's account. So, there's your main character: Confused teen, with a distant mother who doesn't seem to love her, and is never around. Check! Oh, and Jinny was apparently molested by her cousin when she was young, and her mother didn't believe her. That's the explanation for her moodiness and her disinterest in boys. Okay, so, Jinny loves to paint and photograph, but the banality of nude models and flowers just isn't enough. Then, one day, Jinny witnesses a fatal car accident, and guess what she does? That's right, photograph the hell out of it! This leads to a collection of pieces all involving death, including animal death (Jinny pays a butcher to slit the throat of every chicken in his coop, just to get those beautiful images), suicide (captured snap-by-snap during the fall off a building by Jinny), and seducing a boy, then throwing red paint all over him and holding a knife to his stomach and force him to play dead.
Things get very eerie and Jinny starts to lose her grip on sanity, until Jan comes and saves the day. She helps Jinny get over her death obsession and bridges the gap betweeen Jinny and her mother, as well as forcing Jinny to confront that horrible day with her cousin all those years ago. Then, they have breakfast the next day and all is well! Yippee!
Just kidding! In a classic reversal, the Pang Brothers give us the makings of a "feel-good sisterhood" ending, but once Jinny and Jan finish breakfast and head back to school, things start turning dark and scary very, very fast.
I won't say anymore at this point, because even light SPOILERS would ruin too much. Suffice to say, the last half-hour of this film is scarier than anything Hollywood has shitted out in the last five years. It's that good.
Granted, the Pang Brothers "overdirect" this piece, with too many quick cuts and unnecessary zooms. I wish they would have just let the camera linger for an extra second or two, just to capture that ominous mood. And the music worked in parts and blew in others. And, maybe I'm wrong, but one scene has Jinny hanging over the edge of a balcony and I swear the music is an HK version of Aimee Mann's "Save Me." Maybe just wishful thinking.
So, for those of you who like your horror dark, tense and moody, and don't mind seeing beautiful Asian women wearing nighties, check out "Ab-Normal Beauty."
Oh, and I also caught "Three...Extremes." Won't bother you with a review, as I'm sure you'll have a flood coming in tomorrow. I'll summarize it as this: Still shaking from the Fruit Chan segment, still laughing and gagging from the Chan-Wook Park segment, and still scratching my head from the Takashi Miike segment.
If you decide to use this, call me Ichi
