"Diary" ("Mon Seung") initially had my hopes up for being something particularly interesting, as it is a Pang brothers movie. But I suppose I had my expectations up a little bit too high. The movie didn't deliver to the extend I had hoped.That being said, I am not saying that "Diary" is a bad or boring movie, not at all. It just wasn't what I had expected from the story summary I had read.The story is about a lonely and somewhat delusional woman named Winnie (played by Charlene Choi) who spends her time making marionette puppets and writing in her diary. She misses her boyfriend Seth a lot and keeps calling him and leaving him messages. Seth doesn't return these calls though, and she decides to meet him at his work place. There she runs into Ray, who bears a strong resemblance to Seth, and they start a relationship.Initially, then the story wasn't all that strong or powerful. There were aspects to it that seemed not really properly thought through or planned well. And as such, the movie had a tendency to become jumpy and a little bit incoherent at times.The DVD claims 'packed with mind-bending twists and turns, this riveting psychological thriller from the creators of The Eye is packed with eye-popping special effects and will keep you guessing until the final, shocking ending!'. Alright, did we watch the same movie here? Perhaps whomever wrote that had a special edition of the movie that I hadn't, because I couldn't really put that label on the movie.It was nice to see Charlene Choi in a movie such as this, and have her move away from those sugar-coated love romantic comedies that she usually works with. And she managed to step out into a darker universe with grace, because she really performed well in this movie.For an Asian horror movie, then "Diary" was a fairly mediocre result, and there are far better horror movies on the Asian movie market if you want to be properly scared. And definitely not one of the Pang brother's best movies.
... View MoreWinnie Leung is a lonely woman that likes to make puppets and write her diary, and she misses her boy-friend Seth Lau, who left her after breaking up their relationship. Winnie leaves messages in his mail box and unsuccessfully tries to contact him in his job. When she meets Ray Fan, she tells him that his resemblance with Seth is amazing. Ray moves to her place and when Winnie's next door snoopy neighbors calls the police because of the smell in her apartment, a dark secret is disclosed in her diary."Diary" is a claustrophobic, almost theatrical and impressive movie directed by the stunning Oxide Pang Chun and certainly among his best works. The story is very well tied-up in spite of having many twists, with the last one showing the reality, in a magnificent screenplay written by the Pang brothers. The fantastic performance of the lead actress Charlene Choi, who builds the process of insanity of her fragile, depressive and scary character without any need of grimaces like in most American movies, gives total credibility to this sinister tale. The cinematography uses of black and white and a limited range of colors prevailing the green to give a gloomy and very sad atmosphere. I regret that only a few viewers have had the chance to see this great "little movie" since there are only 92 votes in IMDb. My vote is eight.Title (Brazil): Not Available
... View MoreIts one of those oddball hits you don't expect when you first pop it into the player. Starring EEG Canto-pop stars Charlene Choi and Isabelle Leung you'd expect this film to be a stinker; and you'd be very wrong. Very well done atmospheric suspense film about a girl who has apparently been dumped by her boyfriend for no reason. She broods on this for a long time (its implied early on she has mental issues, she even goes so far as to decide he must have died), until she finds a new guy who looks a lot like him. She keeps on mixing up the two men, so one night she reads her diary and discovers...Id strongly suggest you just watch this film first Reading too much about it beforehand will spoil it
... View MoreThis is a masterpiece from the Peng Brothers.I will not categorize it into horror genre. I'm totally mesmerized! I mean totally! Charlene Choi's acting is impeccable! I just couldn't believe my eyes that this young actress could deliver us such a sophisticated and troubled psycho! It is said that people kill because they fear. When people get hurt, they torture. They torture others, and themselves, piece by piece, until they can't tell themselves from others! Look at those horror movies now playing in theaters like the gory Saw 3, you will understand how pathetic it is for the Hollywood. For a very long time rarely has Hollywood any original idea to produce an real horror movie. Cutting open eyeball things and soaking in blood are all they can think about.They need to make another adaptation. Mark my words.
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