Vinyan

Superb scenery with some top class cinematography.

Fake lips however, if I remember correctly weren't really a thing back in 2005. The poor leading lady always appears to either have just been stung by a wasp on her top lip, or punched in the face.

Taken for a ride.

I was in the video store and saw this movie, read the synopsis on the back and thought it'd be pretty good. Nope.

It had such great potential and such a great idea in terms of story, but for some reason the script just never delivered, and the last 30 minutes leaves you wondering: "why after all they went through, did this sh*t happen?" The acting wasn't terrible, and the way it was filmed wasn't bad either, though with this story they could have made things a little bleaker.

If you do want to watch it, make sure you get something else to watch too because you'll be left feeling baffled, unfulfilled and wanting to watch something that wasn't a waste of an hour and a half.

If you like Green Inferno, Death of Me any tropical messed up horror flicks this is good to watch well messed up. Point is if you lost your kid and it's been 6months don't go to the jungle thinking they are there.

An American couple in Thailand discover possible evidence that their young son who died in a tsunami six months earlier is still alive and living in the jungles of Myanmar (Burma). They pay some dubious characters a lot of money to go up river into the forbidden country. Things go from bad to worse.

Many viewers denounce "Vinyan" (2008) because it's not a typical horror film, but that's precisely why it's worthwhile. It's original. It's equal parts haunting, beautiful, strange and creepy. The plot is thin, yet the story maintains your attention.

The acting is excellent all around and you buy these people as real. The five main characters being: Paul and Jeane Bellmer (Rufus Sewell and Emmanuelle Béart), a human trafficker named Thaksin Gao, the captain of the small boat named Sonchaï and the couple's liaison, Kim (Julie Dreyfus).

Memorable parts abound, such as Kim's subtle-but-clear seduction of Paul, the beautiful floating-lanterns at the beach ceremony and the awesome tree fortress.

The meaning of the film is ambiguous, but it provokes thought on several things: The nature of grief (letting go or not letting go), obsession, madness, tribal instincts, going feral and more.

As for the tribe of lost kids in the last act, are they 'vinyan' -- angry, confused spirits who suffered horrible deaths -- or are they simply a pack of kids gone wild in the jungle à la "Lord of the Flies"? I say the evidence points to the latter.

In any case, "Vinyan" has elements of films like "Apocalypse Now," "The Emerald Forest," "Fitzcaraldo" (or "Aguirre") and the aforementioned "Lord of the Flies."

The film runs 1 hour, 36 minutes, and was shot in Thailand.

GRADE: B+

Before watching "Vinyan",I read some comments of IMDb users. Most of all said that the movie is a crap, that nobody should waste one hour and a half of your life watching it. Well, I guess that I saw some other movie.

First of all, the comparisons with David Lynch's works are not fair. Vinyan takes a direction that Lynch never got on his works (an original approach to ghost stories). So, don't believe if you read that this movie is a bad copy of Lynch's works.

Fabrice du Welz shows again why he's a great director,a truly great horror director (how can some critics call Darren Lynn Bousman, Eli Roth an Rob Zombie the "horror directors of the new generation"?). The atmosphere of his craft is fabulous, he manages to make the tension and insanity grow slowly and steadily.

Another great achievement of Welz is documentary feel that he impressed with his direction. The locations of the movies are also great, big and mysterious jungles, like if they were abyss that you just enter, but never leaves them.

Emanuelle Béart,with his explosive beauty, and Rufus Sewell give great performances. The process of disintegration of their marriage showed by them as they delve into the jungle is awesome.

Finally, this is the kind of movie that, before you try to comprehend it, you must feel it.

If you like it, watch "Calvaire", Welz's previous work, a real horror gem.