The Maid
(2005/Tartan/DTS)
Picture:
C+ Sound: B- Extras: C Film: C+
Films
have been shot in Singapore, including some exciting scenes from the recent Mission: Impossible III, but like the
James Bond films, the visiting of exotic locales in big Spy action productions
gets made out to be an exciting exotic locale no matter the reality. In comparison, Kelvin Tong’s The Maid (2005) makes the city look
good without glamorizing it, and then tears slowly at the image as the Horror
seeps in.
The film
is not the usual Horror formula film, though it is still part of the tired
cycle of “the demonic other” film.
However, for a change, it is also a character study of the protagonist
(Alessandra de Rossi as Rosa) that is more than just one “Boo!” moment after
another. Not that those work, but that
is another issue.
She is
actually from the Philippines, coming to the city to take up the title
occupation, but is naïve to possible supernatural evil going on there. I don’t know if this is suddenly surfacing
since China took over from Great Britain, but that could be implied. What is good is that despite not being a
great film, it is far superior to other films in the cycle by simply having
more character and story development.
It should
also be added that this is the 89 minutes long cut and is reported to be as
long as 93 minutes. Whether that footage
made a big difference, we cannot tell, but if you like this kind of Asian
Horror film, this is as must of a must see as any in the cycle.
The letterboxed
1.66 X 1 image has good color and sometimes even good depth, which is all the
more a shame it was not anamorphically enhanced. Director of Photography Lucas Jodogne takes
advantage of Singapore like we have not seen it before and that raises the
quality of the film up a good bit. The bilingual
sound is here in Dolby Digital and DTS 5.1, with the DTS having a slight edge,
with articulate sound, but also moments of echo-filled location audio and
limited surrounds. If this had used all
5.1 channels, this would have been amazing.
Extras include the original trailer and a making of featurette.
- Nicholas Sheffo
