Tsui Hark has been dormant for three years since "Seven Swords" (2005). During this period, he directed one third of "Triangle" (2007) with two good friends and directors, Ringo Lam Ling-Tung and Johnnie To Kei-Fung. In 2008, he released two films, "Missing" and "All About Women", the interesting thing is that both films feature women as the protagonists. "Missing" is a suspenseful horror film starring Angelica Lee Sinje and Isabella Leong, and "All About Women" is a suspenseful thriller starring three famous actresses in Mainland China, Zhou Xun, Gwei Lun-Mei and Zhang Yuqi, the strong lineup of female stars.
"Missing" doesn't change the true nature of Tsui Hark's films, and takes the development of new technologies and shooting environments as the driving force for his creation. This time, in his self-report, Tsui Hark rarely narrates his film personally. The documentary of an ancient city in the deep sea of Ryukyu Island in the west of the archipelago gave Tsui Hark the idea of making this film. The film was shot with the latest high-definition camera, and a Japanese cinematographer Sakamoto Yoshitaka to take care of it. In the deep-sea cinematography part, because the actor Guo Xiaodong was unable to shoot in Taiwan, the scene where Guo Xiaodong and Angelica Lee met while diving was actually shot from two different seabeds, and then edited by adjusting the color temperature and luminosity in post-processing.
The interesting thing about the film is that when the story reaches two-thirds, Tsui Hark solves the mystery. It's another variation of "The Sixth Sense" (1999), but Tsui Hark isn't willing to end the film here. Perhaps in order to comply with the film censorship standards in Mainland China, he had to solve the mystery in advance. Following the last third of the film, it describes how Gao Jing (played by Angelica Lee) recovers her memory and misses her lover Dave Chen Guo-Dong (played by Guo Xiaodong), while Isabella Leong plays Dave Chen's sister Chen Xiao-Kai. When she finds out that her brother's death is related to Gao Jing, Isabella Leong's performance failed to deduce that complex and multi-layered psychological state. As for Angelica Lee's re-starring in a horror film, it can be said that she is familiar with it, and she has more room to play after the mystery is revealed. To a certain extent, the film satisfies the director's desire to pursue new technologies, but the film fails to achieve the expected effect of a horror film.
By Kam Po LAM (original in Chinese)
"Missing" doesn't change the true nature of Tsui Hark's films, and takes the development of new technologies and shooting environments as the driving force for his creation. This time, in his self-report, Tsui Hark rarely narrates his film personally. The documentary of an ancient city in the deep sea of Ryukyu Island in the west of the archipelago gave Tsui Hark the idea of making this film. The film was shot with the latest high-definition camera, and a Japanese cinematographer Sakamoto Yoshitaka to take care of it. In the deep-sea cinematography part, because the actor Guo Xiaodong was unable to shoot in Taiwan, the scene where Guo Xiaodong and Angelica Lee met while diving was actually shot from two different seabeds, and then edited by adjusting the color temperature and luminosity in post-processing.
The interesting thing about the film is that when the story reaches two-thirds, Tsui Hark solves the mystery. It's another variation of "The Sixth Sense" (1999), but Tsui Hark isn't willing to end the film here. Perhaps in order to comply with the film censorship standards in Mainland China, he had to solve the mystery in advance. Following the last third of the film, it describes how Gao Jing (played by Angelica Lee) recovers her memory and misses her lover Dave Chen Guo-Dong (played by Guo Xiaodong), while Isabella Leong plays Dave Chen's sister Chen Xiao-Kai. When she finds out that her brother's death is related to Gao Jing, Isabella Leong's performance failed to deduce that complex and multi-layered psychological state. As for Angelica Lee's re-starring in a horror film, it can be said that she is familiar with it, and she has more room to play after the mystery is revealed. To a certain extent, the film satisfies the director's desire to pursue new technologies, but the film fails to achieve the expected effect of a horror film.
By Kam Po LAM (original in Chinese)