Mad Fate: The Surprising Return of the Director of Limbo (Review)
Hong Kong director Soi Cheang has fun here blurring the lines for a result that is less exciting but still exceptional from a purely visual point of view.
Between the shock Limbo and the fight movie City of Darkness (in theaters August 14), Soi Cheang has shot another film, which is being released somewhat by surprise in our country on July 17: the story of a slightly crazy astrologer who takes under his wing a borderline teenager fascinated by the serial killer who prowls the city… Where Limbo And City of Darkness are particularly striking for their very pure, very direct storytelling, Mad Fate takes a malicious pleasure in confusing the tracks and the stories, as if he wanted to play with the very notion of destiny as the astrologer tries to manipulate it (moreover played by Gordon Lam, one of the favorite actors of Johnnie To, the sensei of Soi Cheang and author among others of a Mad Detective : we say that, we say nothing). The film oscillates between several poles, ranging from amazing visual shocks (the downright crazy murders), chatter and sometimes hilarious sequences of charlatan magic. Like this prologue where the astrologer persuades a woman to let herself be buried alive in the middle of a cemetery, under a stormy sky, to outwit the gods of death. In the end, it’s a film a little more Mad that Fatetherefore, but we would have liked him to choose his side more clearly.
By Soi Cheang. With Ka Tung Lam, Lok Man Yeung, Ng Win Sze… Duration: 1h49. Released on July 17, 2024