Title: Dead Time (aka Kala)
Director: Joko Anwar
Year: 2007
Genre: Mystery, Horror
Format Reviewed: Film (CIFF ’08)
Even among westerners who like asian film, they generally don’t see many films outside of the three “superpowers” of Hong Kong, Korea, and Japan. The cinemas of other countries don’t quite have the prestige, and often times quality, of them. In turn, what they lack in fluidity and polish, they must make up for in other places. Usually this means what most indie films add: creativity. Dead Time does this by blending the lines of genre, as well as injecting a dose of traditional storytelling.
At first, Dead Time seems like a mediocre horror film, because it’s never really scary or engaging. The effects are quite poor for today’s standards. Even looking past them, it is almost impossible to be scared if you are a fan of horror. We’ve already seen all of these things in horror: a ghost in the corner of the screen, a shock during silence. It’s been worked much better before. But don’t be fooled so quickly. Dead Time is not really a horror in this sense. It is a horror similar to the way that The Host is a monster movie. The story revolves around a set of events that lend itself to the given genre, but it isn’t meant to catch your full attention.
Move forward a half hour with no scares, and seemingly no plot development, and you will start to see the hidden beauty of the film. As the story starts to unfold, questions about the plot reveal themselves and turn it into a mystery with some dark & dirty action. And very awesome action at that. The characters are classic, even though they are too individualistic. This turns the entire movie from boring to fun and exciting. Add a satisfying ending tops it all off, and overall it is a great theater experience. Hopefully we will see more original movies like this to come.
Good: Action sequences, Story, Characters, Use of camera, Soundtrack, Awesome weapons, Cool deaths, Original Story
Bad: Boring middle, Horror aspects, Confusing at times
Overall: Definitely worth seeing, just don’t be too quick to judge this one. Like most asian film, the ending will make up for any poor qualities of the rest. Recommended for those who like supernatural mystery and original stories.
Rating: 3 /5
