Alone: The Review

It is VERY rare that I will yell out of fright in a movie theatre. Usually, it is from the fingernails of B.W.E. digging in to my flesh as she is the scared one. Last night, during the Canadian Theatrical Premiere of the Thai film “Alone“, I experienced both. The last time I was so pleasantly surprised by a film was the first time I had seen The Pang Brothers’ “The Eye” for the first time. Although a great deal of the scares were in the trailer, there were plenty of them enough for the feature itself.

“Alone” tells the very sad tale of Pim, a young Thai woman living in Korea with her long-time boyfriend Wee. We learn Pim was once a conjoined twin, but requested the operation to separate her sister and herself. Pim’s sister does not survive the operation and clearly Pim lives with guilt every day over the decision she made. When her mother falls ill, Pim, with Wee in tow, hurry back to Thailand to take of her mother and her mother’s house, but something all is not well in this house. The housekeeper, who looked eerily like a grown up version of our niece, knows something and we are never privy to what.

Over the course of the film, Pim begins to see her sister and feel her presence around her. Wee sends her for evaluation as he loves Pim and wishes her to get well so that they may both care for her mother, but perhaps Pim’s sister is not all in her imagination.

The tension in this film was so tight that this morning my shoulders ache from huddling into my seat. There is still scarring from where B.W.E. dug in to my hand. While the film relied a little too much on LOUDFUCKINGNOISE for the scares, the visuals were definitely enough. One of the great things about these scares was all the uncomfortable laughs from the audience as each chuckle proclaimed “Yeah, you got me on that one”. The storytelling was beautiful. The life of Pim, her sister Ploy, and Wee unfold in such a way that we CARE about these characters. We WANT Pim to get better, we WANT Wee to stick with her and help her. But when the story really gets going the spiral into darkness spins faster and faster until the final moments where directors Banjong Pisanthanakun and Parkpoom Wongpoom finally let us start breathing again.

The travesty here was the absolutely annoying couple that sat behind me. First, they had the great misfortune to spill their popcorn all over the floor behind me. That is a shame as The Bloor Cinema does have some tasty popcorn (and cheap too!). But for the love of all things good and wonderful can you please shut your slathering yap while the movie is on? Why don’t you pay attention to what is happening instead of turning to your obviously just-as-ignorant boyfriend to find out what is happening? Do you not think, for one goddamned second that everyone around you, especially in such a small venue, can hear every word that squeaks out of your inconsiderate maw? What is so important that you absolutely cannot WAIT to say anything until after the movie? Thank God the scares came out, because I really believe that shut them up but good.

phew.

/rant

It felt good to be this scared again, and it makes me want to rush out right now to go and see their previous effort, “Shutter“.



3 Responses to “Alone: The Review”

1. Shannon the Movie Moxie says:

   October 25, 2007 at 12:33 am

   The crowd was great for this screening. I swear the first big scare there was a huge Yelp! from some guy in the audience, and then there was the quick and quiet recovery laughs. I got caught on every single scare.

   I’m sorry to hear you had a yappy couple near you – that is never fun. I know I ended up swapping seats during this one as people near us were discussing every movie in the world including outting all the twists. Ah wells!
2. Bishop says:

   October 25, 2007 at 5:17 am

   Hey Shannon, yep a good crowd can make a great movie even better. I tried not to let the couple behind me ruin my experience.

   Switching seats is always a good option, I am just stubborn