Acensbart Excellent but underrated film

WillSushyMedia This movie was so-so. It had it's moments, but wasn't the greatest.

Maleeha Vincent It's funny, it's tense, it features two great performances from two actors and the director expertly creates a web of odd tension where you actually don't know what is happening for the majority of the run time.

Mathilde the Guild Although I seem to have had higher expectations than I thought, the movie is super entertaining.

dbborroughs Unnerving and disorienting story of a man named Sam Yuen who returns to Hong Kong to see his brother after he put into a coma by an accident. Arriving home he finds that his brother has died, his mother has remarried. No one will speak to him directly and the best that he can get from most people is that he should simply return to London. It isn't long before Sam realizes that nothing, and no one is who they appear to be.This is essentially a European style Gothic film that feels similar to films like, Rosemary's Baby, Angel Heart, Skeleton Key, The Ninth Gate but made in China. Hong Kong feels more like a European city than a jewel of the Orient. Its a disconcerting feel that puts you on edge from the start, and one that only gets worse thanks to the twists and turns of the plot. The plot is labyrinthine in its construction and is designed to drop you, along with Sam, through its twists in such away that you end up doubting who everyone is, even Sam. The film maybe a bit too twisty for its own good, but for the most part it works leaving you praying for the sun light and something happier.I admire this film a great deal, however I'm not sure to what degree I like it. Certainly its a good film but I wonder if its trying to cover too much territory (perception, pedophilia, repressed homosexuality, identity, horror) in its brief 75 minute running time.I'm not sure it all works, other than as a disorienting ride. (I'm also not sure if the ending works) Worth a look especially if you like mind games over gore or want to see a Hong Kong film that simply doesn't feel like one.

thither This movie is a muddled mish-mash of clichés from recent cinema. There are some promising ideas in there, but while the director was clearly aiming to wind up with a hauntingly ambiguous film, what he ended up with was a confusing mess. Lead actor Daniel Wu does a fair job but with no central theme it seems as though he doesn't have much to work with. Furthermore, the movie is largely devoid of scares (although, in fairness, there are some creepy moments amid the drudgery).*MILD SPOILERS*We have the mysterious death of an estranged twin, diabolical librarians, ghostly love interests, identity confusion, death by savage monkeys, oedipal conflict, abusive stepfathers, sublimated homosexuality, and crime gang connections. The only real commonality these elements share seems to be that they cause the protagonist to express a vague sense of confusion and discontent. Perhaps the most disappointing aspect to this film is that despite the brother's death by monkeys being strongly featured on the DVD cover, the act itself is never directly portrayed. Instead, director Julian Lee uses what appears to be stock footage of monkeys - not very scary.*END SPOILERS*Avoid this one. For an excellent psychological, ambiguous horror tale, check out the Korean film A Tale of Two Sisters (2003).

Lee Alon When one grisly morning his phone rings, starving artist Sam Yuen (Daniel Wu) couldn't have been less prepared. An unrecognizable voice claims his twin had been severely injured, urging Sam to pack up and leave London for HK. Feeling obligated, the destitute painter somehow makes his way back, only to be informed of the twin's unfortunate demise. As if such grim tidings weren't enough, he finds his alcoholic mom deranged out of her wits.Understandably stymied by these events of the macabre, Sam seeks answers, stepping into realms of HP Lovecraftian proportions. Everyone he literally bumps into have some dark secret or other dangling over their heads menacingly, including his former school teacher and priest, a classmate turned radio celebrity and a creepy librarian any idiot could tell would be best avoided.Disturbing facts pertaining to Sam's twin surface, some through an alleged ex-girlfriend (Coco Chiang) who promptly proceeds to engage the new arrival in startling fornication. It transpires the twin was mauled by feral monkeys at a local zoo, but above all else, conflicting information hints at a severe identity crises as Sam begins to wonder which of the two brothers actually died.Author-director Julian Lee wanted a Gothic, slightly grotesque atmosphere, shooting for one by incorporating sickly elements such as sexual deviance, paranoid delusions and murder. Sadly for him, the end result resembles more those pseudo-scary HK ghost flicks, albeit a very slick one at that. Despite tons of intellectual contrivances and direct references to Henry Fuseli's blunt imagery in his classic painting The Nightmare, Night Corridor doesn't reach lofty heights as did Seven, Twelve Monkeys and Memento, to name a few possible points of inspiration. However, it probably will work to raise Daniel Wu's career from its current mire following mediocre ho-hum appearances in both Love Undercover films, Naked Weapon and the atrocious Peeping. Scant few locations and a short runtime probably stand as Night Corridor's main asset, not only constructing a viable ambiance but additionally helping put the simple story within an appropriately brief context. Any longer and the whole caboodle would come crashing down.Rating: * * *

Harry T. Yung SpoilersIncidentally, Night Corridor assembles an ensemble of action veterans, probably not intentionally as the movie is anything but a kung-fu flick.Brought up and educated in the U.S., 6-foot-2, 29-yearold, handsome Daniel Wu is the lead as well as the centre of the story. A genuine martial art expert, Wu made his mark in action flick Purple Storm (1999), but proved that he can really act in Peony Pavilion (2001) which won wild acclaim in the Moscow Festival and best actress for Rie Miyazawa. In NC, he plays an artist recalled from London to Hong Kong by the news of his twin brother's accidental death. What he finds there, in addition to the very grotesque and gory nature of the death, is that his brother has been going around using his identity all these years he was away. So technically it is he that is dead. The fun begins there with he recurring trip to a Gothic looking library in search of the truth.Playing his mother is Wai Ying-hung, one of the earlier women fighting stars in Hong Kong, probably earlier than Michelle Yeoh. In NC, she plays an alcoholic, hysterical woman with a somewhat dubious relationship with Wu's twin brother. Some reviews suggest that in this movie, she symbolises the witch. Eddy Ko is another veteran kung-fu star, on both the big screen and the tube. In NC, he plays a child-molesting priest and it doesn't take long to figure out his role in this movie. And it was a great delight to see Kuk Fung, who in the 60's and 70's was seen in just about every martial art movie. In NC, he plays the rather harmless looking library caretaker, until suspicious signs begin to show. Fresh looking Coco Chiang plays Wu's deceased twin brother's girl friend but again things are not always what they seem.The plot is not really that difficult to follow, particularly for those who are used to watching mysteries. Most of the developments (mostly not convoluted enough to be called `twists') did not come as a surprise to me. The final twist may remind you of Polanski's `The Ninth Gate' (1999). And then there are things that are never totally explained, but then this is not something new in movies these days.From the above, you may have already gathered that the movie is not particularly frightening, nor does it have a particularly brilliant plot. I like it though, not despite these apparent lacking, but because of them. The movie focuses on simple story telling and building up of a Gothic atmosphere, both of which work quite well. It does not pretend to be a profound psychological study but there are interesting elements. The acting is solidly reliable. All told, it represents honest efforts in movie making that shows up in respectable results.