Re-Cycle Review
The hotly anticipated latest film from hotshot visual stylists the Pang Brothers Re-Cycle reunites the directing twins with Angelica Lee, star of their biggest hit The Eye. By far the most ambitious of the Pang Brothers' films to date Re-Cycle continues to demonstrate the Pang's over-reliance on visuals over narrative, the script essentially existing to move Lee from set piece to dazzling set piece, but when the visuals are as strong as they are here that's not exactly a bad thing and while it doesn't reach the heights of The Eye, Re-Cycle is quite easily the strongest film from the directing duo since their breakout hit.
Lee stars as Chu Xun, a successful romance novelist struggling with a new genre, stricken with a case of writer's block so severe that she can't even get out of the starting blocks on her new supernaturally themed novel, doing little more than scribble rough character ideas on a sheet of paper to just crumple it in disgust and throw it away. The pressure is mounting on her thanks to her publisher announcing the book prematurely and the re-emergence of a long gone boyfriend - the motivation for her previous romance novels who she has tried hard to forget - so when she begins to experience a string of strange phenomena she is tempted to put it down to simple stress. But as the strange events continue to escalate she begins to notice striking similarities to discarded ideas from her novel until, finally, she is drawn into a bizarre alternate reality filled with all of the people, ideas and objects discarded, abandoned and forgotten in our world.
Dominated by a Hong Kong in ruins this decaying world populated by suicides, rusting toys, ignored ancestors, and aborted fetuses is the real star of the film, Lee essentially providing a tour guide to the Pang Brothers' catalog of neglect and regret. Every trick in the vast Pang arsenal is pulled out to bring their nightmarish vision to life, from digital effects to large scale models and good old fashioned camera trickery, and the visuals are frequently breath taking. From the extended necks of the hangings, to the twisted bodies of the jumpers, to the vast field of abandoned playthings stretching to the horizon, to the tunnel filled with amniotic fluid and squalling fetuses, to a post apocalyptic Hong Kong, the Pangs visual imagination is rich and detailed.
A gifted actress with a slightly undermotivated character here Lee nonetheless performs well, once again making the overall sparseness of her work a confusing thing. People should be throwing plum parts at this woman and yet she appears on screen seldom. Remaining cast members are limited to a small handful of aquaintances in the real world and a pair of guides in the netherworld, all of whom perform adequately if not exceptionally.
The just released Hong Kong DVD boasts an excellent transfer and a vast assortment of special features, every one of which - including the commentary track - features English subtitles. The subtitles however, particularly on the main feature, could have used a good going over by a native English speaker. As they stand now they may capture the literal meaning of the original dialogue but they are clumsy and feature numerous grammatical and other errors, including repeatedly referring to an old man as 'Granny'. It's more than a little surprising that a company that would go to the effort of subtitling the special features, obviously aware that there is an export market for a new Pang film, would fail to give the subtitles on the feature a proper proof reading.
As time goes on and they get more films under their belt it is becoming increasingly likely that The Eye will represent the Pang's peak, the moment where they found a script and actress to match their vast visual talents. But while Re-Cycle may not reach those same heights it certainly shows that they've got plenty of gas left in the tank and it is a significant improvement over their recent string of substandard efforts.
