Review for Re-Cycle

Introduction

'The Matrix meets Inception' is the tagline, yet the genre is horror. That's a juxtaposition that doesn't quite click in my forebrain. It makes me curious as to just what Re-Cycle is actually about, as while Far Eastern cinema has been happily doing the creepy horror thing for a fair few years now, it isn't as well known for its sci-fi output, especially from the Cantonese film industry. But when a DVD-R from Cine du Monde dropped into my in-tray, I got to partake of one of my favourite pastimes, experiencing something totally new to me. It turns out that it isn't just the content that draws references to The Matrix. It also has brothers in common. The Wachowskis directed The Matrix, here the Pang brothers direct Re-Cycle. Are we ready for a Cantonese horror sci-fi?

The bestselling author Chu Xun is surfing a wave of success. Her trilogy of romantic novels has just been adapted into a feature film, and fans are already clamouring for her next work. Unfortunately, her agent only ups the pressure on her by announcing her next book, a horror called Re-Cycle, before she is ready. It isn't easy moving into a new literary genre, and she's having a little trouble formulating the characters. Her life isn't made any easier by the return of an old flame; newly divorced, looking to pick up where they left off.

Her friend wryly notes that those who write about spirits, by doing so can bring them to life, but it appears that there is truth in that statement. For as she tries to get deeper into the mindset of her main character, tries to envisage the world that she wants to write about, more and more odd things begin to happen in her apartment. There are odd phone calls, and she begins to feel as if she is being watched. At first she uses these experiences as inspiration for her book, but slowly, the events that occur begin to reflect that which she is writing, and gradually begin to get more and more bizarre.

The Disc

As mentioned, I received a DVD-R from Cine du Monde, but it's a dual layer disc, and judging from the menus and content, it is identical to what will actually be released for retail, although specifications may change prior to the release date.

The film gets a 2.35:1 anamorphic transfer, NTSC and apparently progressively encoded. The image is clear and sharp throughout, detail levels are strong, and there is a slight and constant layer of film grain. I thought that black levels could be stronger though, and there were moments of shimmer on fine detail, but overall this is a very pleasant transfer that brings across the imaginative production design to excellent effect. Of course one whinge might be about the excessive CGI in certain scenes, but that is a common complaint about modern cinema.

The audio here is a DD 5.1 Surround Cantonese track, and it's very effective at bringing across the atmosphere and the spooky nature of the story. When early on, Chu Xun is alone in her apartment and is beginning to experience the odd events, the soundstage is put to excellent effect in sharing that experience with the viewer. You get optional English subtitles with this release, and they could have used a little proofreading, as there are more than a few minor typos.

Extras

The animated main menu offers you options for extras, scene select and the choice of watching the movie either with or without subtitles.

Top of the extras list is the audio commentary with filmmakers Danny and Oxide Pang, star of the film Lee Sinje (a.k.a. Angelica Lee), and VFX Director Ko Fai. This is in Cantonese with English subtitles, and it appears to be one of those commentaries that are put together like patchwork, edited from several sources. It's a little gappy, but there are some nuggets of information to be had here.

You'll also find the film's trailer, separate from the seven other Cine du Monde trailers on this disc. There's a CG Rendering Comparison featurette that lasts 2 minutes, and offers you a glimpse of the effects shots before and after they are completed, and there are 9 minutes of deleted scenes from the film, presented as one single showreel, and unfortunately lacking context for most of them. They either should have been presented separately in a deleted scenes menu, or each scene should have been preceded by a caption explaining what it's about.

The Making Of lasts 16 minutes, but rather than being a moderately in depth piece, this merely patches 2-minute featurettes together into one larger one, so the useful content is sandwiched in between some repetitive credit sequences. It's your usual EPK guff, clips and behind the scenes footage used to emphasise what the cast or crew member has to soundbite about.

There is a 16 minute featurette looking at the Film's Premiere, where the cast and crew use a stage event to present their film to the world. There's also a Cast & Crew Q & A session that lasts 9 minutes or so.

It's a fairly standard collection of extra features, which really could have used one piece that was a little more in depth.

Conclusion

I didn't know what to expect from Re-Cycle, especially as it's a horror film that references The Matrix and Inception. I have to say that I was pleasantly surprised by what it delivered, after being confused, perplexed and a little blindsided. It's a difficult film to categorise; I wouldn't really call it a horror, although it does certainly play with some of the tropes and clichés. It's not exactly a sci-fi either, despite its references to The Matrix and so on. It plays with concepts and ideas in a similar way to Inception, but there's no narrative instrumentality behind its tale, and there's certainly no grand sci-fi tropes being aped here. I'd say that Re-Cycle is closest in execution to films like Jacob's Ladder, where rather than playing with horror clichés merely for the sake of shocking and titillating the viewer, it's using the genre to tell a more subtle, and fundamental story. It's about ideas, it's about exploring human nature, and it's about understanding the way that the mind works at the subconscious level. Re-Cycle takes the viewer on as fantastic a journey as its protagonist, delivering a conclusion that is genuinely stunning, and makes it look effortless in the process.

The one disappointment, if it could be considered as such, is that Re-Cycle does this by cribbing from a whole lot of familiar movies. While The Matrix can be seen in some of the effects work in the film, and Inception is certainly referenced in the concept of the story, you can also see most of the recent Asian horror clichés show up in the first third. Faceless women, creepy dolls, and plenty of zombies abound. There then comes a shift in the film's genre, where it actually becomes a children's adventure movie. It may just be the first 18-rated children's movie in the world, but you probably will recognise films like Labyrinth and Spirited Away being referenced. Re-Cycle isn't the first film to require its heroine to hold her breath to cross a bridge.

You'll note that I am being deliberately obscure about the film's plot. Re-Cycle is one of those films that deliver most on first viewing, when the twists and turns of the plot are best appreciated. It doesn't do for a reviewer to spoil the experience beforehand. It will serve you best to stick with it though, as while the opening sequence seems like every other Asian horror in recent years, and the unexpected diversion into kids adventure movie is initially incongruous, as a whole, the film is a delightful revelation, and I just have to reiterate how fantastic, how utterly deserved the conclusion is. Re-Cycle does exactly what it says on the proverbial tin. It takes what's old, cuts it up into little pieces, mixes it up with a pot of narrative glue, and creates a completely new experience. If you want to see an Asian Horror that has more than just cheap scares and thrills to it, if you want to see a film that is as philosophical as it is entertaining, then you simply must watch Re-Cycle.