[The News Bot]

Reviewed by Gerard Magnier, 20th October 2009
‘Written By’ was directed by Ka-Fai Wai (‘Fulltime Killer’) and was released this year (2009). This movie tells the tale of a blind girl, Melody, as she comes to terms with the death of her father, Tony. She attempts to resurrect her father via the pages of a novel she writes. As the movie progresses, we see Melody fall deeper into the world she has created, as the line between fantasy and reality becomes increasingly blurred. Infusing childish imagery to bolster the more shocking nature of some of the content, Wai has certainly succeeded in creating an innovative and unusual movie that explores themes of mortality and destiny (and ways to control these seemingly uncontrollable motions of fate). The story is interesting and the pace is cracking, both of which are helped along by the guiding hand of Wai. The piece is only let down by its unnecessarily convoluted plot (which can really push grey matter to the limits) and poorly executed (in places) CGI effects. Overall if you are looking for something different then I would recommend that you check this movie out.

The video presentation just falls short of top marks and is for the most part very well defined and demonstrates a very pleasing depth and instances of three-dimensionality. The audio presentation is of reference standard, with the car crash scene gaining a firm place in the demo material category and making full use of all available 7.1 surround channels. The extras package is somewhat sparse and is rendered almost completely useless (well at least to all non-Cantonese speakers) by the lack of English subtitles. What we’ve got here is an above average movie which is made all the more tempting by a fantastic transfer and a reference surround track.


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