I've seen this movie at the Fantasia Festival in Montreal 2010, and boy did it caught me off guard. I'm usually a stoic person but this movie hit me in the bulls-eye of my emotions a few times, which is quite a feat in itself but more so while in a movie theater. The fact that, four years later, it sprung back to my mind, made me seek out a copy and then write a review should be a testament of it's potential for staying power.I will keep this short since I may just repeat what HKNeo has written in his review. Also, I don't have an extensive knowledge of Honk Kong cinematography and thus cannot delve into talking about the people involved in making this movie and make comparisons to their other works.The movie is pretty much about copping with losses.A father, mother, daughter and son are involved in a car accident. The father dies and the daughter is blinded. Years later, the mother still being tormented and inconsolable over the tragedy, the daughter begins to write a novel to help her mother, foremost, as well as herself and her brother. In the novel, the tragedy is reversed: the father lives, but his blinded, while the rest of the family died. However, the father being inconsolable, himself begins to write a novel... As the movie progresses, lines are blurred between reality and the fiction of the daughter's novel.Unless you're a completely jaded viewer with a brick-for-a-heart and eat puppies for lunch, this movie will definitely tug at your heartstrings.I'm not sure why the ratings are rather poor (or lukewarm) -- perhaps certain viewers were expecting a pure fantasy movie with no emotional resonance (other than "wows" and laughs), similarly to how some expected the same from Pan's Labyrinth (though that movie got the ratings and exposure it deserved).Just like a backpack trip, a particularly exotic meal, a daring complex musical composition, or an emotionally engaging video game (looking at you The Last of Us); this movie may not be for everyone, but it is certainly worth it if it means a chance to feel an engrossing meaningful experience that will stay with you.8.6/10

Tagline: A dream within a dream that equates originality affair… Review by Neo: With all the clichés and indications that Hong Kong cinema is running out of idea, it is also a fresh sight to witness something that aims to be original and creative. Director Wai Ka-Fai have done some good co-directing in the past, namely Running on Karma and Mad Detective and with now an opportunity to box sit his own film, Wai created a world within a world, a dream within a dream and a film that depicts the notion of the beauty of creativity freedom and illuminating imagination. I am sure that Written By is the kind of film that you really need to embrace the notions, go with the flow and simply enjoy the moments in the film to truly enjoy the experience. It is practically a cross between art and commercialism and in that director Wai have allowed the audience to think a little, imagine a little and simply dream a little more. It is true to say that when we dream or write a novel, the writer and the creator is the person who is in control of the world, he/she can decide who can die, who can live and what will happen. It is basically a world imagined by the writer and a world that allows people to escape from the brutal realities at some point of their lives. Written By is not a flawless film, but it gains marks by hitting the right emotional buttons and quite frankly a smart enough work of creativity that ends up working.The movie goes like this: Lau Ching Wan plays a father of two and one day the whole family encounter an unfortunately car accident and in the process leaving Lau Ching Wan dead. His wife, played by one of my favourite muse, Kelly Lin is distraught even after a decade of Lau's death. The daughter (played by newcomer Mia Yam) and the son have now grown up and decide to write a novel to bring their father back to life and in process healing the wounds and scars of the family To some, the film can easily be confusing, but confusion or not, the film requires an investment from the audience. An investment of not just time, but also allowing your mind to indulge into the proceedings and suspense your beliefs in the process, to truly enjoy and embrace what Wai Ka-Fai wants you to see. If that is done, I am assuring you that you will be able to feel the touching moments, the people and the surroundings. It is those tiny moments that made the film worked and with Lau Ching Wan as one of the leads, the film is easier to digest. Not to forget, as usual with Milky Way films, the music core is crucial to the working of the film.Lau Ching Wan puts in an unendingly interesting display. There is doubt that Lau is versatile and here, he is able to pull off a difficult character that is both tormented internally and externally. Internally being the grief of his sufferings from the lost of love ones, externally being how he learns and adapt to the world of blindness. It is probably becoming a cliché itself to praise Lau for his performance, but quite frankly there is simple doubt that Lau Ching Wan's performance in Written By is simply one of the best sympathetic and natural character acting in 2009.Moving on to my favourite muse since Fulltime Killer, Kelly Lin tries to age herself for an older role. Who can forget the sexiness of Lin when she roams through Conman in Las Vegas with Andy Lau? It's been a long time and it must be admitted that Lin only really became a true actress in her brilliant yet sexy display alongside Aaron Kwok in After this Our Exile. Not Lin's performance, but nonetheless credible enough for the audience to follow her character. Surely there is still plenty of room for improvement, but Lin is a pretty girl. Newcomer, Mia Yam impresses big time and almost singlehandedly challenged Lau Ching Wan for the throne. Almost stealing the spotlight, Mia is wondrous and touching in more than several moments of the film, which showed her potential and glimpses of more to come. The way she reacted to know that she is only one left in the family alive, is a difficult moment to act, but Mia pulled it off without overacting and the effect is simply touching and captivating to endure.All in all, Written By is not a film for everyone, but for those that are willing and able to invest into the story, the film and characters, then the experience will certainly to be positive one. Director Wai Ka-Fai knows his stuff and along with his self-written script, Written By works due to numerous reasons. Originality is one, creativity is another, but execution is crucial to the success. It is also easing to watch through great performances and with Written By there is the veteran at work in Lau Ching Wan and the hidden gem of Mia Yam (who I predict will win the best newcomer award). Basically, Written By is not the typical HK movie and it can easily be seen that Wai have taken a huge gamble. While being experimental can be frustrating and interesting at the same time, it must be say that Written By simply works for me and kindly reminded myself about dreaming on … (Neo 2009) I rate it 9/10www.thehkneo.com

The world premiere of Written By was the opening night film of the New York Asian Film Festival. I really wanted to go see it but I just couldn't swing it on either of the first two play dates with the director present. I was kind of happy when I read a less then positive review for the film but changed my mind and decided to go to the third screening when I read some positive comments and saw the trailer. I should have listened to the first review.The plot of the film has a family trying to get over the death of the father and husband after a terrible car accident that left the daughter blind. Ten years on and the past is still not put to rest when the daughter, Melody, decides to write a novel where the father survived the accident but was blinded, and where his family all died. This begins to bring the family around and soon the father of the story is writing a novel of his own where he died and the family lived. The story spins out from there as we follow the story in various levels. There is a great deal of whimsy at times since in the story world there are ghosts and an after life.I'm hard pressed to say something about the film, but I think the easiest thing to say is that the film is a mess. Director Wai Ka-fai has made a multi tiered film that becomes needlessly complicated.For much of the film its not really clear as to which incarnation of the story we are watching. It becomes clear at the end, but until then things jump from story to story to story for a reason that really eluded me. The problem with the film is not really the jumping from thing to thing thats the problem its just that things get so knotted that by the end its not really clear as to what the point of it all really is. The point of it ultimately seems to be that we all need something, in this case writing,or a belief in an after life, as a bridge to acceptance and getting by in life. I don't know if all of what proceeded the ending is what the ending seems to mean, which kind of comes across as a WTF moment where you're left going "thats it?".(I know that makes little sense but you'd understand if you saw the film- then again maybe not since I'm not sure what I saw) I know I wasn't the only one who was bewildered by the film since I noticed what appeared to be several walk outs and a general feeling of what did we just see in the audience once the credits began to roll. (One guy was snoring in his seat across the aisle from me.). A discussion of the film by three or four of us in the lobby after the film concluded it was probably the directors weakest film, which I think was a polite way of saying we didn't have a clue about the film we had just seen. We all said that the most interesting thing was the Queen of the Underworld character who brings people into their next lives via a trolley car. I, like everyone else I talked to wants to see if there is really such a figure.The film itself is for the most part very well made. Except for some of the worst, and I do mean worst, people acting blind in a film the performances are all excellent(but the blind behavior is embarrassing and laughably bad- I can't stress this enough.) What really disappoints me about the film is that there are more than a handful of times when the film hits its stride, most of them having to do with the whimsical or fantastical elements of the story. There is also a moment later in the film when two of the characters break down emotionally that sends the film to the level where the film should have been operating all along. Regrettably the moments are only that, several minute stretches where the film seems to pull it all together.I've been told that director Wai Ka-fai went through 12 or so versions of the film before reaching this one which he said is the one that works best. I would hate to see the other cuts. That said I would love to see a different version of the film and would gladly see the film again if it was re-cut, though to be honest I don't think the film will ever fully work.A real interesting misfire from one of the more intriguing minds in Chinese cinema.4 out of 10 for the moments that really work, probably should be a 3.