Koma
Picture: B
Sound: B Extras: C+ Film: B+
When I first picked up the box to Koma and looked at it I
didn’t know what to expect. From the
looks of it, I certainly didn’t expect to see the film that I was about to
see. After watching a couple Hollywood
manufactured movies for a few days, I was shocked by watching this film due
mostly to the large amount of thought and originality that went into everything
that it had in it. What I love most
about Asian Cinema and especially the titles that I have received from Tartan
Asia Extreme is the originality in all the films that I’ve seen that they have
released.
Koma is no different - a relentless cat and mouse game
that has you guessing the wrong thing the entire time and paying off those
expectations in the most satisfying ways possible. Right when you think you’ve figured this film out, it turns
completely around to something else you thought it not to be. Visually the film is astonishing too,
selecting greens, yellows, and blues to tell an intriguing psychological drama
was interesting for sure. The use of
violence only when necessary, even during scenes of kidney removal where only
as violent as they had to be realistically.
Nothing is over too far over the top and throughout the film you feel
for the characters, which is a rarity in many new films being released these
days.
Mainly, the film is about deception. Nothing in Koma is ever as it seems. People always end up being someone who
appear not to be what they seem. The
production of this film lends to the story a nice balance of all of these
things to further support this theme.
As I mentioned before, the limited color palette assigns each color an
emotion to give you an almost Argento-like eerie horror film feel. All of the camera movements are solid,
motivated, and well executed. The
music, sounding reminiscent of the James Newton Howard’s score to Signs
to places, tells you during both the suspenseful and calm scenes of the film
how to feel. Nothing is rushed.
Everything is perfectly planned.
You don’t know what to feel or think during this film until it happens
and then you’re on your knees begging for more.
In order to pay justice to the smartness of this film, I’m
not going to give too much of it away.
Though I will tell you what I can to the best of my ability. At first glance, the film seems readable –
“two women dueling over death for the love of the same man.” After you figure this out, however, the film
takes a violent turn into something else totally unexpected. Every detail is taken into close
consideration as a jealous young woman with a huge anxiety disorder is pitted
against a cheating boyfriend and the woman who is the cheater. At first the two women are competing over
the love of the boyfriend until the first big twist kicks in – that the two are
slowly becoming best friends. Their
flaws end up being the thing that the two women have the most in common as they
swear to be “best friends forever.”
Though both of women are both as screwy as the estranged kidney stealer
who is after them. Dead bodies arise,
food is regurgitated, sedatives are used to pit the characters in the most
uncomfortable positions possible, and swirling undertones of social anxiety and
personal uncomfortable ness arise. My
biggest prayer for this film is that it doesn’t get a poor American remake –
ala – The Grudge somewhere down the line.
The extras on this disc are limited but not without a nice
behind the scenes featurette on the making of the film and trailers for
upcoming and current Tartan releases (featuring the amazing trailer for the
Asian film that I’m dying to see – Oldboy.) Other extras include a music video and an insightful commentary
by director Lo Chi Leung. Tartan is
serious about making an impression with high quality DVD titles in all genres
and Koma is an excellent showing of how serious they are about
delivering high quality DVD product.
- Jamie Lockhart
