Chosen

Our protagonist, The Driver, as we know him, starts out by picking up a young Tibetan boy in an abandoned New York dock. Shortly after the pickup, however, he is met by two other cars with hostile intent. The Driver manages to elude the two in an all out chase around the dock that results in the destruction of a chasing Mercedes. This movie features terrific chase sequences but contains a sense of "commercialism" as The Driver's BMW seems to be nearly invincible and overall superior to the cars that the chasers drive. But this "episode" in the The Driver series is fun to watch and fabulously directed by Ang Lee.

This wonderful little short film finds Ang Lee at his best! Full of quiet Ang Lee-esquire moments(when the little Dalai-lama guy in the backseat feels hot, he opens the power window, then rolls it back up; the driver looks at him, understands the little guy's urge for cold air(much like that of his native Tibet), cranks down the temp to 65 on the BMW's climate control system.) Of course, the prominent humorous self-conscious Hulk reference didn't go unnoticed by the viewers, including the ones here on IMDb. This is just one instance of director's amazingly light touch.

Also, the music is absolutely wonderful, which wouldn't be that much out of place in Lee's period piece Sense and Sensibility. The music had me smiling throughout this short film, thinking of the connection to the Sense and Sensibility.

I'm amazed by how Ang Lee transformed the film(whose only aim was to advertise the great German cars) into the first-rate cinema by applying fully his sensibilities and preoccupations.

Second in the BMW series, this film is very different from the first BMW short by John Frankenheimer. Not as tightly structured as that film, but it has moments of poetry--particularly a balletic chase sequence. Final "Hulk" scene wraps the film up tidily.

You can actually download this freely from BMW's website. As it is a plug for BMW, it is strongly focused on the automobile scenes. BMW, however, did allow Lee enough license to create a captivating film. It is somewhat enigmatic, yet the necessary information is beautifully presented, leaving the viewer more curious than frustrated. Clive Owen is no great shakes, but he gets the job done. The car scenes are beautifully executed and filmed. The kind of cinema that makes you want to go buy a BMW. Watch in the end as Lee alludes to a future project.

Under the direction of Ang Lee himself 'Chosen' is a very nice short film. The Driver has to take a boy from the harbor. He has some trouble on his way. It is not really a chase, more like a car-dance, nicely choreographed. Together with a fine and funny ending another nice one.