Gau min

Traditionally, Asian films have been sticking more to the classic horror styles and elements. What I'm saying is that in general, they are deeper, more frightening, and overall much better than American horror films. But I found something odd about "Koma." It seemed to be a combination of a slasher film, a psychological horror film, and a family drama. True, this has worked before, in much better films such as "The Silence of the Lambs", but there is something different about "Koma." It almost seems as if the filmmakers wanted to make an "American slasher flick" rather than an "Asian horror film", and to be blunt, they found something in-between.

It is hard not to notice some American influence in the film. There are several shots ripped straight out of "Fight Club" and "The Evil Dead", and the musical score is taken directly from M. Night Shyamalan's "Signs" (Though it is a computerized version of the music, not the original studio recording), with only minimal original music.

But still, it manages to tell a rather absorbing (If not genre-confused) story about friendship, betrayal, and redemption, all revolving around the idea of kidney-theft. (Yum!) Unfortunately, the movie is only 88 minutes long, and all of the interesting ideas are condensed into lesser versions of what they could be. Perhaps if the movie was longer, and took more time to explore it's characters and stories, it would have been better. Hey, it might have even become a modern classic... But because of uneven direction (Zooming cameras and quick cutting in the beginning become long, steady shots as the movie progresses) and a compressed story, what we get is marginal.

Sure it is memorable, but that is only because of it's odd vagueness in what it wants to be, transforming it into a mish-mash "referential" horror film. Overall, even though it is only "pretty good", and there are much better films out there, but be sure to at least give this one a shot, you might like it.

I found this movie to be very entertaining with lots of wonderful surprises. There were lots of unexpected and entertaining moments in this film. This film deals very well with themes of friendship, mystery and love. The ending was very touching and unexpected. Though the action may not be as good as some of the Jacky Chan movies, this movie has a great storyline. The cinematography of the film was well made. The acting was extremely fantastic, especially the acting of Karena Lam. This movie has wonderful mystery elements as well. This movie even contains some horror elements in it though it was supposed to be a physcological thriller, there were some jumpy scenes. However, there are still some minor flaws in this film. I thought the middle portion of this film where the relationship of the two girls were being bulid up was quite draggy. It would be good if they have shorten that up a bit. This movie contains a lot of action, and well paced overall. This movie is a rather original one because it deals with kidneys. This movie is highly recommended. What I actually like most about this movie is the ending. The ending was very well done due to the built up of the film. The ending was though, predictable, a very touching ending indeed. The ending for this movie is very satisfying for me unlike the one in diary. The ending shows a great relationship between the main characters. A lot of credit was given to the ending for me. Hence, I will give this movie a high score of 9/10.

A tense psychological thriller with horror overtones, this film stars Lee Sinje as Ching, a successful woman with kidney problems and Karena Lam as Ling, a healthy lady who resents Ching because she is successful. Ching is dating Wai and, it turns out since they can't be intimate due to Ching's problem, Wai is cheating on her with Ling. If that was all there was to it, it would be enough, but the film is also about someone who cuts kidneys out of people so they can be sold on the black market. Ching thinks Ling is behind it. However, before Ching leans about Wai and Ling, she tries to befriend Ling, since both of them are kind of lonely. The pairing of Ms. Lee and Ms. Lam is superb. Any scene they are in together elevates the film. I think the fact that they became friends during the production (they both said so on the Making Of featurette on the DVD) makes their acting together much more natural and interesting. Ms. Lee has become a very good actress over time and she gets to stretch a bit, gasping in terror and surmising the goings on (or, think she has) admirably. Likewise, Ms. Lam is very good. The other carriers are minor, this is Sinje and Karena's film. I recommend it to anyone who likes tense thrillers. Since its about the cutting out of kidneys, it can get bloody, but its not really a horror film, so that makes it better. I'd like to see these two ladies reunite for another film. They work very well together. Watch this.

This Hong Kong production takes the old urban legend of a person waking up in a bathtub of ice with their kidney removed and spins it into a pretty solid and very well photographed thriller. Angelica (The Eye) Lee stars as a frail woman who gets caught up in the situation when she witnesses Karena Lam in the vicinity of a kidney theft that occurs at a hotel where she was attending a wedding. Several interesting (but predictable) plot twists are thrown in quite frequently. The musical score by Chan Kwong-Wing is very strong and most of the time punctuates the jumps well. The sound design helped to give "Koma" several scenes of creepiness. The photography was very strong with a lot of wonderfully lit scenes. The script is a step above what you usually see for a slasher type film with acting being a very strong component of the film.

The urban myth in this modern Honk Kong thriller simply makes my skin crawl, and the film effectively pulls you along for an unnervingly captivating ride. However this dark concept is only a stepping tool for the premise to move along, then to focus upon it. Susan Chan's well-oiled story keeps the tempo tight, is held together by a strongly stimulating script and constantly stays busy with its cat-and-mouse layout. These do make up for the predictability of the film's material, and a silly surprise towards the end. Like the other user-comments have mentioned, the many twists that the framework throws up are pretty much foreseeable and some quite questionable, but director Chi-Leung Law still manages to competently construct slabs of unbearable psychological tension and grisly violence that teases the viewer. His direction might be economically executed, but he crafts out a stylishly bold and at times visual feast of perfect timing within his suffocating set-pieces. Going a long way to cementing a creepy atmosphere of despair, and uncertainty is that of a beautifully layered music score, which always packed a sudden sting and the sublime staging of Chi Ying Chan's crisp, moody cinematography. What really is the key of the success are the magnificently flawless lead performances of Angelica Lee and especially Karena Lam. Both bring humane, provocative turns that are truly convincing, and moving in every detail and the hazy relationship between the two characters is truly a complicated web. A very well made and professionally acted film, where from the get-go its faults seem immensely minor to disrupt a very entertaining, worthwhile story.