Chaos

Hideo Nakata, director of RINGU (1988), followed up his spooky international hit with this complex and compelling thriller in which a beautiful woman hires a handyman to kidnap her, with the hope of winning back her cheating husband's attention. But things soon begin to go awry when the amateur-kidnapper-for-hire returns to his hideout to find the 'captive' woman dead, and then receives a mysterious phone call instructing him to dispose of the body.

As the film gradually unfolds, we learn, via the use of various interesting storytelling techniques, that there is much more to his predicament than at first meets the eye.

With a choppy non-linear narrative that requires full attention from the viewer, Chaos is definitely not an easy film to follow (particular if you choose to watch with subtitles), but those who do make the effort to keep track of events will be rewarded with an effective and inventive slow-burner. With more twists and turns than a python doing the samba, this movie constantly surprises, and only a rather abrupt ending stops the film from being a truly 'great' experience.

If you're a not a fan of Nakata's supernatural work, don't let that put you off from seeing this intriguing movie; a different kettle of fish altogether, Chaos is well worth giving a go.

Having tried the two "Ring" films and "Dark Water", I had all but given up on the Japanese horror director, Hideo Nakata. The problem for me is that ("It's a Wonderful Life", "Portrait of Jenny" and the marvellous Japanese "After Life" excepted) I find the paranormal in cinema something of a turn-off. True, these examples are humanist not horror films but even quite respectable ghost stories such as "Blithe Spirit" and "The Ghost and Mrs Muir" don't exactly grab me. I suppose the "Monihara" segment of Satyajit Ray's "Teen Kanya" is the one great piece of supernatural horror cinema I know although one must never forget all those versions of "Hamlet" and Macbeth". If there are monsters out there trying to do unthinkable things to other people then I would prefer them to be human for the simple reason that their very believability makes them ten times more chilling than dreamt up phantoms. Imagine my delight therefore when I discovered an engrossing piece of Grand Guignol by Nakata, his "Chaos" of 1999. From comments and reviews there appear to be several that find the plot complicated to the point of incomprehensibility. I would caution patience as it is a work that needs to be seen several times to be fully understood. When one eventually gets there (for me on a third viewing) the rewards are enormous. Everything fits together in a most diabolically clever way. To give even an inch of the plot away could reduce the pleasure of untangling it. Suffice to say that there are echoes here of "Les Diaboliques" and "Vertigo". By placing "Chaos" on this high level I could not praise it more.

After the huge success in recent years of the Ring movies and Dark Water, i was looking forward to watch this movie as I've become a big fan of those aforementioned films. Chaos though is not a horror, and is instead a taut thriller surrounding a kidnapping of a women by a young man which is not what it seems (which is what the "Chaos" title is referring to).

As expected from the director, as per his other movies, the direction and camera work is excellent, and the female lead is the main gist of the movie, haunting the viewer and being the centre-point of the action. The female lead is excellent but is well complimented by her male colleagues in the film.

The main drawback is though that the script simply is not as intriguing as the filmmakers believe it is, and to be quite honest, it can be very predictable. Twists and turns keep your attention, and you will enjoy it, but i find the movie was a lost opportunity for something stronger. It is not a disappointment, but the director here has produced something below his high standards.

Overall, a fair thriller which most will enjoy, just don't expect something to keep you thinking and talking for days on end like some of his other films.

Hideo Nakatas "Kaosu" reminded me of "Memento". I've seen "Memento" way before American audiences saw it and have found zero reviews on the net (which sometimes is the best thing that can happen). I was stunned by "Memento" the second I found out that the whole thing runs backwards. "Kaosu" had a similar moment. After ca. 3 sequences, I realized that this movie is not built chronologically. It's not backwards but its scenes are arranged in a complex way - sort of like "Pulp Fiction" but without any marks that a new chapter/time frame starts or ends.

This construction is sometimes a little bit too confusing and I found myself rewinding the DVD two times to refresh a previous sequence. But after a while, you start figuring out what's going on. Only to find your whole idea thrown over again and again. In the end, it all makes sense. I went back to the first sequence and remembered the problem Komiyama had with his hand. Yes it all makes sense and is a very rewarding challenge of your mind.

However, there's a problem with the ending. Again. Many recent Asian movies had bad endings - I particularly hate the endings of "Tell Me Something" and "Cure" (both movies are fantastic until the terrible ending). Fans of Asian cinema always try to defend these bad endings by saying it's un-Hollywood, it's mind-bending, it's unconventional. Yes, but it also doesn't make zero sense and even though you find yourself reflecting the ending, it finally only leaves you frustrated. It's not that bad with "Kaosu". However, the ending is anticlimactic. It's not that it doesn't make sense like in the movies I've just mentioned, it just isn't satisfactory.

Still, it's a worthy movie experience and I recommend it to fans of thrillers and Asian movies in general. Another success for the director of the brilliant "Ringu".

Rating: 8/10 (being a bit generous)

This is an enjoyable puzzle of a movie by Hideo Nakata, the director of Ringu. What starts out as a simple kidnapping soon becomes a complex story told in a cut-up narrative style that can be hard to follow if you're not paying attention. Through the twists and turns you're given answers, and then more questions until everything is resolved, sort of. If you enjoy well-crafted, sophisticated films in the tradition of Hitchcock or Lynch I think you will enjoy this.