At The Gate Of The Ghost (2011/aka The
Outrage/Magnet/Magnolia Blu-ray)
Picture:
A Sound: B Extras: C Film: C+
A young
monk is disillusioned after a murder trial in front of the King and in this, a story
of murder is told by three witnesses: Singh Khan the bandit, the wife of a
deceased warlord, and a shaman who is possessed by the ghost of the warlord. Each one tells a different version of the
warlord's murder, but who is telling the truth? As the monk takes shelter in cave with another
man and a crazy old man, they talk about the witnesses and who was telling the
truth among all the lies in M. L. Pundhevanop Dhewakul’s At The Gate Of The Ghost (2011).
Obviously
inspired by Kurosawa’s Rashomon,
this has some good moments, but can only do so much new (outside of the new
setting) to distinguish itself from that classic (reviewed elsewhere on this
site) and its many imitators, including the 1960 Hollywood film The Outrage (1964) with Paul Newman and
Laurence Harvey. As for those separate
accounts of events, the bandit paints a story of a glorious battle with the
warlord. The widow tells the story of
faithful wife being raped and her husband demanded her kill herself afterwards
to redeem his honor. The shaman
(arguably a witness) tells the story from the warlord's perspective on how the
wife gave in lustily to the bandit, then left him for dead and he committed
suicide. However, in reality, the bandit
wanted to be remembered as a feared infamous man, the wife wanted to be the
tragic heroine, and the shaman wanted have his reputation as a necromancer
increased and there was a 4th
witness who saw both the bandit and warlord being goaded by a seductress wife,
and they fought each other cowardly, and the warlord only died because he
accidentally tripped. Oddly the monks faith was restored after showing
everyone were liars.
This
story was not as much a trial, but entertainment for the king (you can hardly
call it a trial if there were no evidence and only testimonies), whom ever told
the best story wins. While all the
character claimed they were telling the truth and had nothing to lose, the all
still had something, their reputation. Each
time a new version of the story was told, the background/setting changed. In the end the moral of the story seems to be
it is in human nature to lie.
You may
want to give this one a look just to see how they did it, but those who feel
this has been played out will want to skip it.
It is at least an interesting attempt to do it again, if not always
successful.
The 1080p
2.35 X 1 digital High Definition image transfer can looks very impressive
throughout, making it one of the best-looking productions from Thailand we
have ever seen. Color, definition, depth
and detail are fine throughout, even when the imaged is styled. The DTS-HD MA (Master Audio) 5.1 lossless mix
is towards the front speakers and a mixed recording that I was not as happy
with. Too bad, because it looks so
good. Extras include making of the film,
behind the scenes and trailers.
- Ricky Chiang
