Films/DVD Asylum

Posted by tinear (A) on November 17, 2006 at 04:39:53

wild-eyed murderers... this is the scariest, most disturbing film you will ever see.
A family living in inner Taipei have lives so compartmentalized that they seldom ever communicate, not even in anger.
A charismatic young man one day happens upon a young woman that years ago meant something to him and decides to accompany her. They end up at a river where the director is having difficulty making a floating dummy appear realistic enough: she successfully prevails upon the young man to enter the filthy waters.
Almost immediately after, he begins to suffer intense pain.
His family's journey to find a cure for what becomes absolutely debilitating to the young man is the plot but, as with all Tsai's films, there are several subplots which are the real interest: the illness is merely the link which ties the personal lives of the three characters.
It would be easy to say the film is about modern alienation but one could as easily argue it is about the destruction of Asian tradition, how even the traditional forms of healing--- acupuncture, meditation, joint manipulation, pressure point strikes--- are useless in curing modern malaise.
I have read several reviews but I am shocked none mention the absoutely mesmerizing performance of the young man who, in a remarkably short time in the film, descends from an almost too perfect beauty and strength to a wretchedness not out of place in a Nazi concentration camp.
Somehow, Tsai's skill is such that the film doesn't deteriorate into a "sad fest" for the young man nor is it a depressing film. This is no small feat given that it shows the most devastating portrait of modern society one could imagine, certainly on a par with either "The Lower Depths."
If you don't know this director's work, you are missing out on a truly unique vision. There is no one working in film today that has more intellectual rigor, more penetrating analysis of the condition of modern man.
On a scale of ten stars: ***********