This pleases me. Thai horror picture Alone, fresh off of Best Director and Best Actress awards at Fantastic Fest - where it was runner up to Nacho Vigalondo's Time Crimes for best picture - has just swept the awards at the LA Screamfest, getting the nod for Best Picture, Best Director, Best Cinematography and Best Editing. Am I feeling smug about having programmed this at both Fantastic Fest and Toronto After Dark? Why, yes. Yes I am.
And speaking of Toronto After Dark, Alone is screening there in about ... oh, two hours or so. If you rush, you can make it.
The film suffers a bit by comparisons to A TALE OF TWO SISTERS, perhaps a bit too reliant on 'volume-spiked-jump-scares' and some of the broad story elements are predictable enough. All that aside, it's a great looking film with some great ideas and very lasting imagery and a good story. In its own strange way a go-for-broke-crowd-pleaser too. Not surprised that this is raking in Awards.
For me, ALONE felt like the movie that the Pang Brothers have been struggling to make since THE EYE. (A scene involving an elevator and a ghost in ALONE nicely cemented (and subverted) that comparison)
Kudos to Banjong Pisanthanakun & Parkpoom Wongpoom for what they have delivered here, even though a bit more subtlety (see again A Tale of Two Sisters) may have made the film more upscale in the arty dept.
This film was such a pleasant surprise. I had heard it was scary, and became very indifferent towards it, considering the typical Asian Horror flick, but what I wasn't expecting was such a wonderful story. What a great night.
Yeah, it works Geert Jan, you just forgot the quotes around the URLs.
Doh, thanks for fixing the links Todd.