Wednesday, April 30, 2008

4Bia (movie)


Local critics were raving about these four short movies so I thought I should give it a try. I got used to watching horror movies by myself but I suddenly missed being with someone when I saw a gay couple sitting infront of me. They were even kissing each other's hands while kissing.

Well, I love the opening credits although the theme is predictable. It shows blood in all gravitational possibilities but the director (probably one of the four directors featured in this movie) obviously spent a long time storyboarding it. The first story is "Happiness". It is about a girl who is lonely and finds a "text" friend who is actually closer to her than she thinks. The scenes are laid out with all types of lenses and devoid of any spoken line.

The second story is "Tit for Tat" which resembles a work of a young artist who is not out to make a good movie but out to make a good-looking video portfolio. It is really hard to know where the carnage is coming from and that is probably because of the snappy editing and framing. I actually felt like I was watching a music video.

The third is "In the Middle" and it is supposed to be a parody of popular Hollywood movies and one popular Thai movie. It is very funny in many scenes and a couple of the boys are very cute. I guess the director forgot about the genre.

The final one is "Last Fright", a melodramatic story about a widow and her rival. I think the melodrama comes both from the story and the actors themselves. It has everything you would expect from a haunted plane, including deadly trolleys, empty seats, smashed windows and of course, the long Sadako-hair.

Should I trust the local critics? Ah no. 4Bia presents nothing fresh, memorable or original. Perhaps, this is the Thai version of "Shake, Rattle and Roll" franchise that has been raking a lot of money in the Philippines for over two decades.

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shake%2C_Rattle_%26_Roll_%28Filipino_film_series%29