The Chef, The Actor, and The Scoundrel (2013/Well Go USA Blu-ray)

Picture: B+ Sound: B+ Extras: C- Film: C-

Imagine an Asian Baz Luhrmann or Terry Gilliam and you kind of match the style seen in Guan Hu's The Chef, The Actor, and The Scoundrel (2013). The film is so goofy and stylized that it takes a special kind of mood to escape into. The acting is silly, the camera movement and editing is kinetic, and the story is constantly going back and forward in time that it makes at times the plot hard to follow. That's not to say that it's not a well made film, because it is. You can tell that there was a lot of time spent in post production and its not without its moments but one look at the trailer and grasp the insanity of the project's scope.

The film is set in 1942, during the Second Sino-Japanese War. Much of the plot revolves around the fates of two Japanese scientists who are captured in Beiping by the three titular characters, who have trouble deciding what to do with them. After the Imperial Japanese Army's Unit 731 conducts experiments on biological weapons by releasing cholera in Beiping they inadvertently hinder their advance because their troops are at risk of being infected as well.

A scoundrel encounters the two scientists inside Beiping, without knowing who they are, and attempts to rob them. After a short chase through the streets, the scoundrel captures them and brings them to a Japanese restaurant owned by a Chinese chef. An opera actor also lives in the restaurant. The three men are unable to decide what to do with the scientists. The chef wants to release the captives because he is afraid of getting into trouble. The scoundrel wants to get out of the difficult situation so he lies that he is from the Chinese Eighth Route Army. The actor wants to kill the scientists and the scoundrel, because he feels that they would offend the Chinese army if they release the scientists and they would offend the Japanese military if they release the scoundrel. From here, we enter an isolation piece that an exercise in insanity.

The 1080p 2.35 X 1 high definition (shot on a RED EPIC) brings out the color and texture in the film, which inside the restaurant are primarily on an orange-red pallet. Well Go USA does a nice job with their discs and this one is no exception. The sound is a pleasant DTS-HD MA (Master Audio) lossless 5.1 track that has a Mandarin and Japanese original track. English subtitles are obviously on the disc as well.

Extras on the disc are slim, which is why I gave it a lower rating. There's a standard EPK Making Of Featurette, a Blooper Reel, and a Trailer.

All in all, if you are a fan of zany Asian cinema and like fast stylized filmmaking then this may be a good choice for you. But if you are expecting an epic period piece then you may want to look elsewhere.

- James Harland Lockhart V

www.vimeo.com/jamielockhart