Back To The Past (2026)

Based on the 2001 television series, A Step into the Past, which was based on Wong Yee's novel, The Chronicles of Searching Qin BACK TO THE PAST is a continuation of the story that has Ken getting out of prison and traveling back in time with a squad of armed men in order to become the Qin Emperor. However there are complications including Louis Koo.

I never saw the original series, not have I read the source novel and I know it worked against my fully enjoying the film. I say this because so much of the film references earlier events and complications...for example Koo and the rightful Emperor have a very complex relationship that made me wonder why they put up with each other. I know this would have made more sense if I had seen what went before.

At the same time the film kind of suffers from a slight dumbing down of events. What was once a complex soap opera has been simplified to action fodder minimalism. Characters a sketched. Everything is aimed toward moving us into a series of action set pieces.  This would be fine if the action was top of the line, but the truth is it all seems like it's a half step too slow and sublimented by just okay CGI.

Don't get me wrong it's entertaining in a popcorn on a Sunday afternoon sort of way, but it doesn't find a place deep in our hearts.

I should mention  that while the film runs 107 minutes, the film ends 90 minutes and then gives us an alternate time line ending. I found it amusing, but I like the original better.

If you are a fan of the original series or want a good, but mindless action film give BACK TO THE PAST a look.

731 (2025)

Once you are cured you will be free- repeated refrain 

Remember This and We Have Lived

This is a stylized look into what happened in the infamous Unit 731 where the Japanese tourtured thousands of people to death in the name of science. The film follows the story of one man who escaped and then found his way back to the camp. It ponders his role when he is forced to work for Japanese.

Looking and feeling of a kind of Nazi-sploitation film from the 1970's, it feels at times as if the designers of CALIGULA and THE DEVILS had an unholy love child. The film is very theatrical (it could almost be kin to OUR HITLER) with each section of the film meticulously planned in as theatrical a way as possible. Reds and golds and blues abound. Its real and not, with nothing out of place - there is no dirt and even the blood and gore is artistic. Its a kind of art house riff on THE MEN BEHIND THE SUN, but with a desire to make a point and not just shock us with gore.

Yes, the film catalogs the atrocities to some degree, but it does so almost tastefully. While it's not so stomach churning as the infamous MEN BEHIND THE SUN, it still packs a punch. The film's horrors come from fear of characters we know.

The film has a bone to pick with everyone, especially the Japanese. This is at least the third film in the last six weeks to recount the Japanese war crimes. Between the three films I'm shocked that the Japanese government hasn't said anything since between the three films anti Japanese feelings are going to be whipped into a frenzy. This isn't to lessen what the Japanese did in anyway, but the concentrated release from a state run film industry makes you wonder what the ulterior motive is. The film also, rightly, takes aim at the americans who let the murderers slide because they turned over their papers.

To be honest I don't know what I think of the film. On one hand I'm kind of shocked that the film wasn't picked up by some of the major film festivals since the films artistic merits are off the charts. This is the sort of art house cage rattler  that might have become legendary when if played the New York Film Festival, since it would have provoked a reaction and had people talking to the screen.

At the same time there is an (art house)soap opera nature to the story. The filmmakers want to push buttons and stoke emotions. this is propaganda on top of a heightened human story (I mean the use  kids, the pregant lady as victims....and just about everyone else's stories of pain and misery). It hits many cliches so hard that they are driven into next week. You have to accept the film's emotional manipulation of go mad.

The film is also so insistant that you knwo exactly precisely going on and where that a lot of the film comes with titles explaining who is who and when and where things are happening. It's so frequently done that it becomes silly. I don't think I've ever seen a film that used titles to explain things as much as this film.

It doesn't help that he film has such a heightened tone that I don't know if this is supposed be serious or a satire or if the filmitself doesn't know. Some scenes are tragic but the theatricality of the presentation makes you wonder why it seems silly. I giggled. (Think the end of GODFATHER 3 but without the music)

And yet I love the ballsy nature of the telling. I love that it is trying to be it's own thing, but at the same time I don't know if it wholly works. Yes I was moved, but not to tears. I was not crushed and it's clear as  the film goes through the final credits to blackness, that it wants to break its audience. That doesn't happen. Honestly I admire what it is doing, even if it occasional misses.

Ultimately this is a one of a kind film on an important subject. If you want a film that isn't main stream, give this film a shot.

Shadows Edge (2025)

 Possibly the least interesting Jackie Chan film I've seen. Yes he's made some stinkers but this is the first time I was largely bored.

Cobbled together from any number of better techno thrillers, this film has a bunch of bad guys lead by a ghostly former government assassin trying to run a couple of robberies in order to get the required tech and passwords to still billions in cryto. When the police find that their systems are compromised they bring in a retired "hunter" to bring the crooks down the old fashion way.

This film is a mess. From a script that doesn't explain anything either at all or well, to action sequences that make no sense (the 20 minute opening sequence has the bad guys peeling off disguise after disguise after disguise despite having nothing under the clothes they were just wearing), to long periods where nothing happens (The training in the streets sequence), this is a film that cries out for a new editor who is willing to remove stuff. One that can actually match up the action in a sequence so it actually flows and doesn't have to be helped along by our imagination and letting things slide.

Yes, Chan is fine, but he isn't given much to do until late in the game (hell, he doesn't come into the film until almost the laf hour mark).  The rest of the cast is equally good but they to are not given anything to do. We don't know who anyone is so early sequences fall flat, and we aren't clued in until almost a hour in when we start to get long monologs that fill us in. That would be okay, except it's so late we don't care.

The film also isn't focused. is it about the cops at the start? The bad guys? Chan? the daughter of Chan's dead  partner? What is everyone's relationship? The film doesn't know and doesn't do anything until it needs to pull something out of its bottom to drive things forward again.

This isn't bad as such, but it isn't anything we haven't seen before (EYE IN THE SKY any one? MISSION IMPOSSIBLE?  How about any other recent techno thriller with a hacker who can get into anything? How about any film where a young cop is trying to make their dead parent proud while watched over a misunderstood ex-partner?)

I was bored and kept reaching for the remote.

Dongji Rescue (2025)

This is a fictionalized account of the sinking of the Lisbon Maru off  the coast of China in 1942.. The ship was being used by the Japanese to move prisoners of war taken during the Battle of Hong Kong. The ship was not marked as carrying prisoners so an American submarine thought it was fair game and fired a torpedo. As the ship began to sink the Japanese sealed the prisoners in and then fled, machine gunning anyone who made it on deck. The sailors from a near by island rushed to aid the sailors trapped in the ship and managed to rescue almost 400 men. This film focuses on two brothers who live on the island, which is under Japanese control, and their part in the events.

This is a great looking film. If you can see the film on the big screen, do so since the underwater sequences and the actual sinking sequence which runs the better part of the final 90 minutes is spectacular. Trust me, you will get carried along with what is happening. This is what big screen movie going is all about.

While the actual sinking sequence is great the earlier section of the film is just okay. Actually, it is better than okay, it just pales compared to the long amazing final sequence. The trouble is that the film doesn't really have characters. Yes, we are focused on the two brothers who get mixed up in the events, but they aren't particularly well drawn. There is a shorthand to their construction. It's something that prevents us from truly connecting on real level. But you won't care because the sinking/rescue is so well done.

This isn't to say the film is bad. It's not. This is kind of like a Chinese version of one of the big American blockbusters which are all motion and little else, though this one has the weight of history behind it. It definitely is a must see for the sinking sequence.

(Note: I do recommend that if you are interested in the full story of what happened you do some research. There is a lot more to the story that the film doesn't fully cover.)

Brief words on DEAD TO RIGHTS (2025) (aka NANJING PHOTO STUDIO) until I can see it again

 I will post a full review on DEAD TO RIGHTS as soon as a see it again under better circumstances. I say this because I saw the film at the AMC Raceway in Westbury and the bulb was so dim that it was hard to see a chunk of this because it is a dark film.  I also was not happy with the fact that while the print had subtitles for all the dialog, it didn't have any of the writing subtitled. For an espionage film where what is written is important it resulted me being a bit in the dark.

My issues with the film aside this is a very good film. The film is the story of a postal worker during the start of Nanjing Massacre. As the Japanese invade the the city chaos reigns. In order to save himself, a Postal worker says he can develop film. With the help of the owner of the shop, who is in hiding, he begins to develop the pictures of the atrocities that the Japanese are taking as glowing record of what they did in the war.  Realizing that people need to know what was happening, the group in the studio have to figure out how to remain alive long enough to escape with the photos.

This is a bleak film.  It is a film full of man's inhumanity to man as well as the light that shines in some people. It is a film about doing the right thing in moments of darkness. Do not go into this film hoping to come out singing zip-a-dee- do-dah.

I liked this film, because of the circumstances of the screening I don't know how much. I will say that I liked that there is some slight shading regarding some of the Japanese. At the same time some of the turns probably didn't need so melodramatic.

Ultimately it is recommended but I do need to see this again under better circumstances. (And my saying I want to see it again sooner than later speaks volumes about how good it is.)

Forbidden City (2025) Fantasia 2025

A young woman from China allows herself to be trafficked to Italy so that she can find her sister. When her sister is not where she thought she would be,  she begins her search. Eventually she ends up hooking up with the son of the man  who is supposed to have gone off with the sister.

Atypical mix of Hong Kong martial arts and Euro crime films is something to make you sit up and take notice. The mix of action and crime drama makes for a film that isn’t like anything else out there, and which probably shouldn’t work, yet some how it does. This film hooks you early with an amazing action set piece and then just drags you along.

The reason the film works is the endless drive forward that the search for the siter brings. There is an urgency. We know early on that the bad guys are bad. And some ot the good guys are not so good either. I love that we don't have cookie cutter characters.

Certainly, the martial arts help. They are going to sit up and make you say “hello’ because there is brutality to them that is severely lacking in modern action films, especially those from China. The action is such that I was emailing friends to tell them that they had to see this because the action was going to blow their minds.

I really liked this film a great deal. I like the mix of genres and cultures. I love that some one was thinking outside of the box and was skilled enough to pull it off. Too often mixes like this crash and burn. This one doesn't. Just go with it's seemingly uneven pacing.

Forgive my lack of words  but I need to see this again to really find the words to express how much I liked this film.

A must see.

Possession Street (2025) NYAFF 2025

A zombie apocalypse happens when a sealed bombshelter is opened and a zombie virus is released. Its up to the residents of a mall to try and stop the approaching end of civilization.

Give director Jack Lai bonus points for trying to change things up and a lot to chew on, but at the same time there is a point where too much is not a good thing.There is historical commentary, and magic, and zombies, and ghosts and martial arts, and a bunch of other things. The film wants to be scary, and funny, and heart breaking. Lai is trying to juggle a lot of balls the trouble is there are too many and they end up crashing. The result is the tone never comes together and the narrative only works in fits and starts. 

With the film more clever pieces rather than a unified whole  we never connect. Yes I will wax poetic about the zombies or some the fights but I'll never speak glowingly of the whole because I only like the bits.

A disappointment with cool fights and monsters.

VALLEY OF THE SHADOW OF DEATH (2025) NYAFF 2025

 Anthony Wong gives a quietly pained performance as a priest who preaches about how suffering brings one closer to god. Three years after the suicide of his daughter in the aftermath of her being raped, Wong's and his wife's lives are thrown into free fall when the man who raped their daughter enters their lives and begins making strides toward redemption.

This is a very heavy film where what isn't said is just as important as what is said. Wong gives us a brave face but we can see behind the eyes that there may be gulf between what he preaches and what he actually feels and believes.  There are no easy answers here, and even as the screen fades to black you are going to not be certain of what you feel. I mean that in a good way since this film kicks up a great deal of ideas and emotions that you can not just walk away from.

In an age of hate, this examination of forgiving 7 times 70 times is serious food for thought.

This is one of the better NYAFF 2025 films and as such is recommended.

PAPA (2024) NYAFF 2025

 Sean Lau plays a father trying to come to terms with the death of his wife and daughter at the hands of his son.  The attack just came out of left field and he tries desperately to come to terms with what happens and whether he can help his son deal with his schizophrenia.

Bouncing through time the film tries to give us a clue as to why events happened as they did. Things are not always clear. This a slow burn film that gets under your skin and rummages around there. This is one of a number of recent and semi-recent films and series that try to make sense of events that ultimately make no sense.

This film is all about Sean Lau. He is one of the greatest actors working in the world and it’s his towering performance that is the reason to see this.

Outside of Lau I’m not certain what I think of the film. Yes its well made and well acted by everyone but the tone of the film is one of self importance. It’s very much about something though I’m not sure what that is.  The film is also incredibly bleak and not something I would willingly sit through again.

Hunt The Wicked (2024)

This film has some of the most insane action sequences you'll see all year. If you love batshit crazy action this film is for you. 

The basic plot of the film has a cop kind of sort of working with wanted criminial to hunt the city's big drug lord. As the pair spar they also get closer and closer to the villain who is poisoning and kidnapping the people of the city

If you want to know how crazy the film is consider that the film opens with a sequence where the wanted criminal takes on a scientist who is making the drugs...and is also a serial killer. The scientist is protected by an army. Things get even crazier as there is a fight with a knife on a wire and sledge hammer end on a chain, another fight involves electrified tridents and land sea chase involving artillery. The action is so good it's what you will remember.

Sadly as good as the action is, the script is a convuluted mess. The script seems to exist just to move the characters to the next action sequence and then give us a preachy ending where good triumphs over evil and even anti-heroes are punished. I know that one has to bend to the Mainland authorities, but their tinkering and moving things toward the party line is resulting in mish mash films.

Messy plot aside, this is a film action lover will want to put on their must see lists

Recommended.

Caught by Tides (2024) Opens Friday

Jia Zhangke’s CAUGHT BY THE TIDES should not work, and even if it did work it shouldn’t work as well as it does.. The film was cut together from “mountains” of footage shot randomly over a 21 year period. During the lockdown Zhangke and his team went through the footage and found things they could tie together. They then shot some new footage to tie it all up together. It may take a while to click, but there is a point where it suddenly just comes together.

Beginning with some documentary footage of some women singing on Women’s Day, the film jumps around for a bit between documentary pieces and then a man and a woman who are in a relationship. They break apart and then going looking for each other over time. Before meeting again in the days of covid.

It’s not giving anything away because what makes this film special is the performances. Watching the actors age over time, in clips that were never meant to go together is something special. Somehow the ravages of time makes what we see even more special. There are nuances that we would never have seen otherwise.

What blows me away is that there is very little dialog. Everything is expressed in the physical performances. And then in the final section, set during covid, everyone is largely masked. The result is a couple of towering performances being given with only part of the face. If Oscar and other awards were truly based the best performances then the ones in this film would clean up.

Watching the film I wasn’t sure what I was watching. Some of this is as I said documentary footage, some of it is just staged bits. A bunch of it doesn’t seem to hang together. Yes the travelogue like footage is amazing  but there were times when I wasn’t sure that Zhangke was making his point…and then suddenly it clicked. Suddenly I was there. Suddenly the pain and loneliness crashed into the audience. Suddenly you realized that this seemingly imperfect experiment was going to break your heart.

I was moved.

Seeing this and taking the ride was one of the coolest things experiences of the year.

I think based on the reaction of the screening at NYFF, where no one seemed to walk out and everyone stayed for the Q&A I think the rest of the audience was too. ( do see the  NYFF Q&A where Zhangke explains in detail how he made the movie)

And if you don’t like it, that’s okay, this is a one of a kind movie.  But if you see it  don’t give up on it until the film ends.

Recommended

MOLA : A TIBETAN TALE OF LOVE AND LOSS (2025) SXSW 2025

MOLA is a small little gem of a film that you are going to have to search out. It's not a film for anyone wanting a big and loud film. This is a film that is all about the quest to end one's life at home even if that is a long way away and under repressive rule. 

This is the story of Kunsang Wangmo who was a Buddhist nun. She married a monk, had two children, fled to India after the Chinese invasion and eventually moved to Switzerland. As she reached her 100th birthday she wished to return to Tibet to die. The film charts her remarkable life and her effort to go back to Tibet. 

This is a quiet and medatative move. It feel like a Buddhist prayer. the film is a celebration of a life and of a passing. This is the best sort of film, good times with good people, and even if that time is going to be short, we are still happy to have the time with the people on the screen.

This is a hard film to really write up. While it is paced like a prayer or meditation, it is also full of emotion. My take away from the film is not easily put into words. This is a a film I felt. It is something that connected me to life. I was moved. As I said above it's a gem of a film.

... though perhaps owing to its subject a prayer bead might be more appropriate.

Recommended

Legends of the Condor Heroes: The Gallants (2025)

Tsui Hark's latest film is a cinematic adaption of the novel by Jin Yong (actually chapers 34 to 40). It has been mined for numerous other films over the years (including  THE BRAVE ARCHER series which I love.) with each set of filmmakers putting their own stamp on the tale.

The film follows the adventures of Guo Jin, a member of the Song, who was raised as the adoptive son o Genghis Khan. He had set out to find his way in the world and had fallen in love with a young woman name Huang Rong. She helped him become a great martial artist however they had a falling out, however when they calmed down they began to try and find each other only to end up in the middle of the war between the Mongols and the Jin armies. Complicating matters is the fact that a master named Venom West is seeking the secret of the Novem Scripture which will give him unlimited power.

This time out its a sprawling epic action/romance/fantasy that is heavily enhanced by computer effects. In all honesty if they didn't use effects this film could never have been made. Armies that big and wonders than enchanting don't exist in real life. Once you decide to ignore the uneven nature of it this film is a great deal of fun.

I had a blast with LEGENDS. Its a big epic of the sort few people attempt any more. The action is spectacular with a couple of bits resulting in my talking out loud. More importantly we have great characters. Sure some like Venom West are cartoony, but we still care about them.This is the sort of film that will make people fall in love with crazy martial arts epics...

...or mostly.  The problem here is that as good as the ends of the film are there is a deadly middle section that slows it all down. In the middle Guo returns to the Mongols and is heralded a hero. He is loved by princess, who had just rescued Rong from Venom West just before Guo's return. What follows is roughly an hour of soap opera as the two women pine for their man, the Princess unaware that Rong is the woman Guo threw her over for. It's not bad but is slows the film to a crawl.

That said the film picks up in the final third and it's full of rousing action.

I had a grand time with the film. I actually wish I had a chance to see this in 3D because some of the shots would have been amazing with extra dimensions.

A couple of people I spoke with compared this film to Hark's classic ZU WARRIORS  films, but honestly I liked this more. I appreciated that the film had a more solid plot than the earlier ones.

If you can get out and see this in a theater before it gets pulled, do so. It truly is a big screen movie.

Recommended.

BANR (2025) Slamdance 2025

After I saw BANAR I Tweeted the following:

"I saw a film that will be on my best of the year list for 2025. It is a soul crushing film that doesn't break your heart but physically hurts you so bad you never want to watch another film ever again for fear that it will do this to you all over again. Sadness? Oh you don't know cinematic sadness"

This film broke me.

 

I mean that in a good way, but this film broke me.

The film is the story of a couple who were together for 40 years. She has slipped into Alzheimer's and he has recently died of a heart attack. The  film is largely a version of their life together but with some scenes now.

This film is pretty much note perfect. There is nothing out of place anywhere in this film. The two lead performances are so on target that there are whole chunks of this film that are not narrative but a documentary between two people deeply in love. WHich is exactly why this film will break you - you are watching people you love deal with the end both physically and mentally.

Forgive the brevity of this review but I do not want to go to the place that I would need to go to truly do this film justice. Just know it is highly recommended and that it will probably remain in my top 3 films of 2025 -which considering I saw the film in early January is a towering achievement.

Panda Plan (2024) hits VOD Tuesday

Jackie adopts a panda at the Noah Zoo but it is wanted by a rich Saudi prince who pays a fortune to some bad guys to get it for him. Unfortunately they try to take it when Jackie is at the zoo.

This is a family comedy that's better than some of the films Jackie has been turning out recently. Its a film in which Jackie finally comes to terms with getting older where jokes are made at his expense. The humor produces knowing laughs. The action isn't bad, but it's clearly CGI enhanced. Actually a lot of this film is clearly computer enhanced. Sometimes it works and sometimes it doesn't. However it's good enough you won't care

I do have to say the way that people' go crazy when they see Jackie Chan is dead on. I've watched many adults loose their minds just to be in a room with Jackie.

Ultimately I was amused.  Sure this is a family film, if you want proof the twist at the end of why the prrince wants the panda is pure family territory.

Will you like it? Yea, I think so, but I suspect that you'll remember the panda more than Jackie.

Death Education (2025) Sundance 2025

Every March a teacher holds a death education  class by taking them to help lay to rest the unknown people of their town. The idea is to help his students come to terms with death.

Deeply moving and incredibly moving film is less a  straight on documentary and more a meditation on death an how we view it. Little is said. There are long silences. However the images are haunting and they pull us into the events on screen. We are quietly give much to thin about.

I can not image what this film is going to do to any film that follows it in a festival. This is a film I'm glad I saw divorced of a shorts collection because when it was done I just sat quietly and contemplated life. If I had seen this in a shorts collection I probably would have gotten up and walked out  and done something similar. Quite honestly this film kicks up way too much to the point that nothing can follow it closely.

It is certain to stay with you until year's end.

One of the great films of Sundance. 

A LEGEND, debuting on Digital, Blu-ray & DVD January 21

Billed as a sequel to the 2005 film THE MYTH, A LEGEND is really closer to a remake (though don't quote me it's been long enough since I saw THE MYTH that I could be overstating it) . The film is the story of a professor, played by Jackie Chan, finding some ancient relics that mirror ones in his dreams. His dreams tell the story of the battle between the Huns and the Hans and a beautiful woman tasked with keeping the land safe.

I know a lot of people are getting upset that they used AI  to make Jackie tat look younger, but the truth of the matter is that the film has a more serious problem and that is a wildly uneven script. Drifting erratically from grand action to soap opera and back again the film feels like it doesn't now what it want to be. The film feels like it is trying to make a point about the glory of China instead of being an entertaining action film.

I know I have been admonished by some of my friends for covering films from China owing to their crack down on artists and dissenters, but the truth is the Chinese government intervention in the making of films is going to do more damage faster simply because no one is going to want to see the films or the art produced. A LEGEND, like several recent other films from China, has the feel of a film that had the government crawling all over it, making it less enjoyable because the plot feels contrived and the film praises the glory of a mythical China that exists only in legend.

While the action is very good (if incredibly slick) I'm not sure it's quite up to the task of making the film  worth seeing. The problem is there is too much blah around it.

Black Dog (2024) is playing in LA- go see it

Guan Hu returns with a great little gem of a film that I completely failed to notice on the release calendar.

The film follows a man who has just gotten out of prison going to his home, a village near the edge of the desert in order to take care of the dog population. Along the way he becomes friends with a black dog and it changes him for the better.

This is a nice little film that is just as good as Hu's earlier films (COW, DESIGN OF DEATH or MR SIX) in other words the film is going to kick the legs out from under you and leave you wondering why more people aren't talking about this film.

This is a great film and you need to track it down ASAP.

Random thoughts on Mistress Dispeller (2024) DOC NYC

A woman hires a woman to break up her husbands affair 

This plays less like a documentary then a formal narrative which messes with your head because the film doesn't play as a documentary. This plays more like an art house film. I'm not certain that's a good thing because the film's formal structure keeps us distant.

My one question with this film is how did they get the husband to agree to being filmed?

To be honest this didn't really work for me.

100 Yards (2024) opens Friday

When you see 100 YARDS just go with it. Give it time to set the table and get going. I say this because the plot, about the son of the head of a martial arts school battling the first apprentice who now runs the school for control of it has been done to death in martial arts films and other genres as well. You've seen this a thousand times before. However the setting in 1920 Tianjin city and the vast array of characters are something new.

Playing at times as a jazz age western in modern dress 100 YARDS is truly something special. A one of a kind film that takes a well worn plot and makes it into something you've not really seen before. I say this because despite the film having a plot line I knew, I had no idea where this was going to go. I mean I really had no idea where this was going because the film is so filled with characters I've never seen before that I couldn't make a guess what was going to happen.

If you need an example of how different this film is consider the women in this film. There are four vitally important roles for women in the film and every one is not what you expect. One is the cross dressing spokesman for the The Circle, the martial arts group controlling the city's schools, whose back story is unexpected. Another is another member of the the Circle and while seemingly minor plays a key role several times. As for the two romantic partners for the men at the center of the tale... let's just say you aren't ready for who they are, so don't even try to guess. The women are seemingly not important but the truth is not for them most of the story wouldn't happen.

The action sequences are wonderfully atypical. The fights are compelling and culminate in a battle that runs the better part of the last 45 minutes. Amazingly it also advances the plot because of the things that happen during it. While a couple of people do die over the course of the film, their deaths are not the result of the fights.

To be honest I was ready to hang it up ten minutes in,certain this was a form over content film with a plot I'd seen before, and five minutes later I was staring at the screen gob smacked because I had no idea where this was going. Characters and situations were changing before my eyes.

I need to see this film again.

If you can give yourself over to the film and let it work its magic I think you are going to have a great time.

Highly recommended.