03-18-2019, 10:00 PM
I went into this understanding that it was a reinterpretation and not a remake. So I was flexible about that, open to letting it go where it chose to go.
And so it went, and I just couldn't get aboard. No compelling mood, music, or characters (sorry, Tilda, though you tried).
I slept on it before writing this up, and I dislike it even more after reflection. I wanted a soundtrack of growing apprehension, tracking shots and crane lifts and slow pans of impending dread. There was none of that. Yes, there was horrific stuff, but overworked, repetitive, and seemingly patched in. Nothing felt organic.
The dancing was all jerky and fitful, which worked against the dreamlike feel I wanted; and then there were all the cuts -- so many cuts! -- with faces always turned away or covered in hair for the more difficult moves, a dead giveaway that it was a double. I found myself mentally identifying actor and double from shot to shot until it became unbearable. Jeez, I'd be willing to suspend disbelief if you just showed the actress dancing poorly on screen. That's what Karen Allen did in the original.
Anyway, I think Asian cinema has spoiled me, what with so many actors able to act as well as dance or do martial arts, making for a much more seamless experience.
And so it went, and I just couldn't get aboard. No compelling mood, music, or characters (sorry, Tilda, though you tried).
I slept on it before writing this up, and I dislike it even more after reflection. I wanted a soundtrack of growing apprehension, tracking shots and crane lifts and slow pans of impending dread. There was none of that. Yes, there was horrific stuff, but overworked, repetitive, and seemingly patched in. Nothing felt organic.
The dancing was all jerky and fitful, which worked against the dreamlike feel I wanted; and then there were all the cuts -- so many cuts! -- with faces always turned away or covered in hair for the more difficult moves, a dead giveaway that it was a double. I found myself mentally identifying actor and double from shot to shot until it became unbearable. Jeez, I'd be willing to suspend disbelief if you just showed the actress dancing poorly on screen. That's what Karen Allen did in the original.
Anyway, I think Asian cinema has spoiled me, what with so many actors able to act as well as dance or do martial arts, making for a much more seamless experience.