The Movie: Cities of Last Things
The Director: Wi Ding Ho
The Cast: Lu Huang, Hong-Chi Lee, Louise Grinberg, Jack Kao, Ning Ding
The Story: This is a story about a common man who has extraordinary events in his mundane life. The film depicts the protagonist's turns of events in three eras, three seasons, three nights, in the same city, as told with reverse chronology.
The Review:
So, this movie started off with a really cool, futuristic style reminiscent of the Blade Runner aesthetic and watching Jack Kao play in that world was a real treat. At least for a while. The thing about this movie is that it is told in three parts during three different times of a man's life, each one going back to a younger point. as the story transitioned to each earlier time and each younger version of Kao's character, it got less interesting and more weird, partly because the future stuff was all gone leaving a basic and uninteresting landscape.
I suppose we are supposed to slowly learn about the man and what happened in his life that brought him to the point of the first segment, but none of it really connects and it ends up having the absolute opposite affect that Gaspar Noé shocked audiences with in Irreversable. Instead of building any sort of intensity or drama, things just get weird and, by the end, I was kind of glad it was over. Can we just go back and make a complete movie out of Jack Kao's segment, please. That would be great, thanks!
Cities of Last Things is an official selection of the 2019 Seattle International Film Festival.
To see more reviews, interviews and festival coverage please go to:
TwoOhSix at SIFF 2019
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