A chef collapses suddenly and goes into a comatose state. He is returned to his father who lives up a mountain. Murders immediately follow.
Soul is quite a strange movie. It's typified by a brooding atmosphere that never lets up. It's downbeat more than thrilling and that may be a challenge for some viewers. It's certainly a film that operates in a minor key and you need to be able to get into its unusual rhythms in order to be able to take anything away from it. Whatever the case, it's certainly very beautifully shot, with some great shots of the mountainous, woodland area in particular. The ambient humming soundtrack compliments the images and gave off a sort of Twin Peaks-ominous-mountain-forest vibe. It's certainly distinctive. The story-line on the other hand is slow paced, a little too slow-paced at times in all honesty. And I don't think I necessarily completely got it if I am truthful, there may have been a cultural gap here I suspect. It seemed to tap into Taiwanese ideas about the spirit world which I didn't really understand. But that's hardly the film's fault. On the other hand, the slightly surreal setting was pleasingly weird, with characters using a small monorail to ascend and descend the mountain. On the whole, an interesting, downbeat psychological drama. Not for all tastes but interesting as an example of Taiwanese cinema.
