Paris

Paris is a beautiful contemporary film noir.

The photography is excellent and shows how great DV can look. The film offers an impressive combination of unique visual motifs with an intriguing plot. The romantic story is highlighted by Bai Ling's captivating acting. Her beauty stands out and she shows a wide emotional range. Considering she is still at the beginning of a great career!

Also, Karen Black adds some extra sparks to the story.

Overall, the filmmakers created a wonderful enjoyable film, I would highly recommend it!

Paris is a very ordinary corrupt-cops-in-the-underworld movie, just laden with cliches, and its struggle to rise above them isn't very successful. There's not much originality in either the script or direction; from the cop who drives a sixties-vintage car to the address he wants written down on a barroom

matchbook, we've seen all of it before.

The movie looks good, and some of the performances are strong. Chad Allen

does show some chops, and an ability to hold the camera's attention, even if his range here is limited. Some of the blame for that has to lie with the script and the unconvincing situations it puts him in. And maybe he's better off not trying to play a character's depth when there is none given him to play. Bai Ling also

acquits herself credibly and as someone else noted here, there is some screen chemistry between the two stars.

But after all that, I'm still left with one question; how does a guy get shot in the back, from the side?

A demonstration of how good a performer can be, even when the movie is ineptly directed and photographed. Bai Ling stands out for her emotional range and beauty, despite the fact that the camera here doesn't fails to take best advantage of her. The plot is the routine corrupt cops story, full of plot holes, not making much sense, with a couple thrown together and finding tragic love. The film's style constantly distracts and annoys with repetitive canted angles and a failure to take advantage of scenic possibilities, especially in the desert. The seams show so badly that it is barely above the standard of a student film. Bai Ling deserves so much better, yet withal still worth seeing just for her sake as a lesson in the art of acting.

Paris is an impressive combination of a unique, socially-minded, film-noir plot, beautiful visual motifs, and further exploration of what DV filmmaking can look like.

Bai Ling is captivating in every scene she's in, and Chad Allen is perfectly suited for the role of the young, struggling cop. We really come to care about both of their conflicted characters.

Throughout the film the repetitive use of mirrors is just one of several visual elements that serve to make Paris artistically moving, and this, in combination with a twisiting plot that takes us between the seedier parts of Los Angeles and Los Vegas, makes this a film you can't stop once you've started.

Paris is an intriguing take on what film noir looks like with contemporary production technology and a contemporary storyline. In the process, the film presents the important and neglected problem of forced Asian prostitution. The acting is very good.including Karen Black! I recommend it.