Fantastic Fest 2011

Hong Kong cinema is generally associated with martial arts, gritty crime, and slapstick comedy. Recently, a new wave of severe films has begun to surface in Hong Kong. A perfect example is Ching-Po Wong’s wild ultra-violent thriller REVENGE: A LOVE STORY.

A serial killer is loose. His signature crimes: dissecting pregnant women alive and dunking their husbands' faces in boiling water. A suspect named Chan Kit (Juno Mak) is soon caught. Thus begins the tale of how Chan Kit and his mentally disabled girlfriend (Japanese porn actress Sola Aoi) became involved in a series of harrowing crimes.

REVENGE: A LOVE STORY is the second production from 852 Films, the crew behind the 2010 film DREAM HOME. Juno Mak, who acted in both films, also wrote the screenplay for REVENGE: A LOVE STORY. Whereas DREAM HOME is a slasher film laced with social commentary, REVENGE is an entirely different beast. As is obvious from the title, this is a film about vengeance. What isn't so obvious is the way this love story is told. A standard linear narrative is jettisoned in favor of a more disorienting approach. The timeline is scrambled. Events appear out of order. As a result, the audience is often left guessing about important events and the motivations for the characters' actions. The pieces of the puzzle eventually settle into place, but REVENGE: A LOVE STORY doesn't wrap up in an obvious way. In fact, the film stretches the scenario to the point of madness.

Although the structure is tricky, the director doesn't play around when it comes to the graphic depiction of violence. The film unflinchingly rubs the audience's collective face in all sorts of ugliness. (Rodney Perkins)