L'arrivo di Wang

1 May 2016. This sci fi psychological thriller is an elongated version of a plot found in the more recent television episode of "The Outer Limits." While the European movie version script has its merits, especially in the beginning scenes with a rather nice use of blurred focus and more of a somewhat humanizing element of a number of primary characters there isn't much more this movie has to offer. The American dubbed version is competent in its translation it seems, the psychological intensity besides a somewhat stereotypical interrogator and the interaction between the female translator, interrogator, and stranger is fascinating. The psychological threat is actually on par with the Cuban Missile Crisis in a number of ways.

The Italian script seems to use a twist in the typical American sci fi themes as well as copying "Outer Limits" tendency to surprise its own American roots as well and to decent effect. The problem with this movie is that there isn't really anything new that hasn't been done before nor done with more budgetary quality considerations. The movie is intact with a nice beginning, middle, and end, though its seems rather sharp in its approach. Other movies that have more of an intensity and compelling cinematic experience would be Planet of the Vampires (1965), The Thing (1982), Alien: Resurrection (1997), Sphere (1998), K-Pax (2001), Splice (2010), Devil (2010), Ender's Game (2013), and Oblivion (2013).

Therefor I am not going to spoil the story for you. I'm not even going to touch the subject of genre (you can read that here on IMDb if you really want to though). But I will tell you this: If you are an avid fan of cinema and specifically of Korean cinema, than you might remember a movie that had a similar theme, but handled the whole thing better. That is not to say that this is a bad movie. Quite the opposite, this is quite good and has its moments.

The actors are good, the effects are good too (for a low budget movie). The story is kinda predictable, the dialogue is good too (especially the last sentence that our female protagonist hears is terrific). The mentioned sentence was something the filmmakers had to fight for (producers didn't seem to like it, but believe me, it worked with the Frightfest audience!).

As this film opens protagonist Gaia is working on translating a film from Mandarin into Italian when she is interrupted by a phone call. She is wanted for an emergency translation job for which she is offered two thousand euros for a few hours work. It soon becomes obvious that this won't be a usual job; she must wear a blindfold while travelling and the job is to be done in the dark so she can't see the man she is translating. The questions, and answers, seem a little strange... at appears the individual, Mr Wang, was picked up in a woman's house two weeks after she chased him away and the authorities want to know why he returned, where he stayed in those two weeks and most strangely why he is speaking Chinese. Later the lights are turned on and the last of those questions makes more sense... Gaia may have got herself into something much deeper than she expected.

When I picked up this DVD for 50p I had no real idea what it would be like but was intrigued by the idea of an Italian sci-fi movie... I wasn't disappointed when I watched it. It opened pretty well and only got better when we got to the interview room. Even though most of the film took place in this room it was tense and there was a great sense of mystery... is Mr Wang telling the truth, who are the people asking the questions and where did Mr Wang come from. If possible I'd recommend watching this knowing as little beforehand as possible, which is why I've kept descriptions vague, as it will improve the twists, which aren't too obvious. There are some disturbing moments as the interview first gets intense then involves torture. Some plot holes are a little hard to ignore, most obviously we just have to accept that this agency has to get in an outside translator to introduce a character who is morally offended by what is going on. The small cast does a solid job, most notably Francesca Cuttica, who plays Gaia and Ennio Fantastichini as Curti, the man asking the questions. Overall I'd definitely recommend this to sci-fi fans looking for something different.

THE ARRIVAL OF WANG is a little-known, low-budget Italian sci-fi movie about a female translator, fluent in Mandarin, who finds herself undertaking the most unusual job of her career when contacted by a mysterious government branch. It starts off promisingly, provoking a sense of mystery and foreboding with its 'dark room' premise, but sadly it gets more and more ridiculous as the story progresses.

The main problem I had with the production is its reliance on CGI effects which look fairly ridiculous. A key twist early on had me bursting into laughter rather than being frightened as the female lead was. This transforms it into nothing more than an extended episode of THE OUTER LIMITS (circa 1990s), one which feels dragged out in places. Little happens, and when it's all over you wonder how they managed to fill the running time out.

There are some decent scenes and elements here, including a torture sequence or two which prove to be fairly hard-hitting, but I did find the story falling apart as the finishing line approached. The twist ending is anything but surprising, while the acting is little to write home about. It is a shame, because I believe with tighter realism and more focus on the human aspects of the tale this could have been great rather than average.

Shocked to see mediocre reviews. It's low budget but a masterpiece...no spoilers from me.