Koma

KOMA (dir. Chi-Leung Law -- 2005) starts off with a classic urban legend of a person waking up in a ice filled bath tub with an organ surgically removed. As the movie progresses, however, the audience is lead into a carefully crafted suspense thriller, reminiscent of Hitchcock and De Palma.

The protagonist is a wealthy woman, Chi Ching (Angelica Lee - The Eye), who is suffering from renal failure, and is waiting for a kidney donation. Unfortunately, Ching has a rare blood type making a match difficult. She eventually befriends a woman, Suen Ling (Kar Yan "Karena" Lam - Heroic Duo), who is jealous of Ching's wealth and love life, and has several dark secrets, none of which I will give away at this time. All this is happening while a serial killer is going around stealing kidneys from woman.

KOMA has one twist after another without falling into the cliché of coincidence. Every twist in the movie occurs because of the choices each character makes rather than due to outside forces, culminating in a great twist ending.

Although shot in a style that is very reminiscent of DePalma, the themes are very "Asian", especially the friendship that builds between Ching and Ling. I don't really understand the "We'll-be- friends/sisters-forever" type themes rampant in Asian films centered around Asian woman. Seems childish to me. Perhaps something is lost in the translation. Perhaps it's because I'm just a guy. Maybe both? The screenwriter is a woman by the way: Susan Chan. She also wrote the script for Jackie Chan's Who Am I?

The other downside of the film is that I don't know why it's called KOMA.

It is, however, refreshing to see a suspense film come out of Asia that doesn't revolve around killer Harajuku girls, or ghosts coming out of a television set. It's fairly impressive for an Asian suspense film.

The films is rated "R" for brief nudity, violence and gore (blood).

Great suspense, story and cinematography, but very poor on dialog.

Surprisingly pedestrian rendition of an premise handled far better in Stephen Frears "Dirty Pretty Things". Don't be misled either into thinking its a 'horror' film has it seems to have far more in common with the sexual revenge and contamination fears of 1980s classic Fatal Attraction. Indeed a boiled bunny might have made for a passing distraction more pleasant than the 88 minutes of increasingly grudging attention I was forced to expend on this hack work.

One can see why a combination of plastic oriental exoticism and hitchcock/ shining pastiches would appeal to fans of contemporary throw away horror, such as 'Saw' for example, but plastic characters, a dull visual palette and plotting mean there's little to warrant recommending it over any episode of CSI. Which is a poor recommendation indeed.

Never knowing which twist is coming next, Koma keeps viewers on their toes the entire film. As both leading ladies are living a life lacking that which they truly desire, only to discover it in the other, the develop a friendship in each other that has a cliff dive at every turn. The film keeps excellent pace, while keeping you guessing throughout, with an ending that makes you keep thinking of the characters after it's over. Who really won? Did anyone? Did everyone?

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.

I was not sure what to expect going into this one. I adore Angelica Lee, so it was worth it, even if it were to be garbage. The premise is pretty simple and setups up the movie - Kidney thief on the loose, whose next? Or so you think. The movie goes much deeper than that. One could almost cut all that out (forgive the pun) and substitute other problems and the movie would still stand. Other than a few curses a friend taught me in college, I don't speak or understand Chinese, however the writing (if the subtitles are accurate) and the emotion in the delivery make you really feel for Ling and Ching. I think I felt more empathy for them than half the English movies I've seen lately.

There is nothing supernatural in this movie and it is very believable, which actually makes it a little scarier. There are a couple scenes where they try to make you jump, but you can see those coming from a mile away. Some of the plot twists were pretty transparent, however, some were unseen. It is not a convoluted or hard to follow story at all. But the acting and direction more than make up for any implied simpleness of the plot.

Really, it is that decent of a film.