Incoreherent and Dull are two words that describe this cinematic disaster.
With Aaron Kwok on the cover (I'm a fan!) and having read the back, I was convinced that Port of Call was well worth the rental. I was wrong.
Based on a real-life case, a detective (Kwok) investigates the presumed murder of a teenage prostitute. By this, I mean that a boat-load of blood has been found - which matches the DNA of a missing girl - but no body... any and all suspense then goes out the window as some bloke strolls into a police station and admits his guilt.
With an excellent DoP and a case that supposedly gripped Hong Kong, I can see why Kwok got involved - hell, maybe the screenplay was decent too? But the end result (perhaps the director's or editor's fault?) is a heavily disjointed mishmash of scenes, none of which hold much dramatic value nor build any of the cast's characters. I honestly tried hard to like the film but it's an almost empty attempt at - what? Being arty? Trying to say something the bland characters cannot spell out? - that after an hour, I couldn't suffer it any more... and with so many films in my To Watch pile and so little time, I can ill-afford wasting a full 90 minutes on what it so obviously a stinker.
And that's my advice to you all too: avoid.
With Aaron Kwok on the cover (I'm a fan!) and having read the back, I was convinced that Port of Call was well worth the rental. I was wrong.
Based on a real-life case, a detective (Kwok) investigates the presumed murder of a teenage prostitute. By this, I mean that a boat-load of blood has been found - which matches the DNA of a missing girl - but no body... any and all suspense then goes out the window as some bloke strolls into a police station and admits his guilt.
With an excellent DoP and a case that supposedly gripped Hong Kong, I can see why Kwok got involved - hell, maybe the screenplay was decent too? But the end result (perhaps the director's or editor's fault?) is a heavily disjointed mishmash of scenes, none of which hold much dramatic value nor build any of the cast's characters. I honestly tried hard to like the film but it's an almost empty attempt at - what? Being arty? Trying to say something the bland characters cannot spell out? - that after an hour, I couldn't suffer it any more... and with so many films in my To Watch pile and so little time, I can ill-afford wasting a full 90 minutes on what it so obviously a stinker.
And that's my advice to you all too: avoid.