Chaos

Rating:
Summary: Complex and beautiful.
Review: Chaos (Hideo Nakata, 2001)

Hideo Nakata, by far best-known in the west for the ultra-smash hit film Ringu, departs from the horror films that have paid his way for the past few years and delves into the straight mystery. It probably helps that the same production team who produced one of Japan's finest mystery films, Cure, was in on this one as well.

Komiyama (Ken Mitsuishi of Malick's The Thin Red Line), an executive at a generic company, has lunch with his wife Saori (Miki Nakatani, seen recently in Ringu). She disappears while he's paying the bill. He goes back to the office to a telephone call from someone (Masato Hagiwara, the Hannibal Lecter-like villain of Cure) saying his wife has been kidnapped. To say things go wrong from that point on, both for Komiyana and the kidnapper, would be an understatement.

While the trailer reveals far more than this, best to leave it there. The plot spoilers start less than fifteen minutes into the movie, and you're best off going into it with no preparation at all.

As the DVD has no dubbing capability-you watch the film with subtitles or you don't watch it at all-Chaos is a film that will make the American viewer pay very, very close attention. The movie shifts back and forth in time, revealing a piece of the puzzle here, a piece there. The viewer will have to keep all his attention focused on this movie in order for it to make any semblance of sense, and even with all the pieces in place, it's going to take the viewer quite a while to figure out what to make of the movie's ending.

As with all of Nakata's movies, the lighting and cinematography are brilliant. Everything is perfectly staged to create a feeling of complete claustrophobia, accented by a number of scenes that take place at Asagaya Station; the limitless sky in those scenes only makes the closing-in feeling that much more real. Twist after twist, turn after turn leaves the viewer almost breathless. And still, the pace is perfectly done; nothing ever feels rushed.

While this is a mystery and not a horror film, it should be noted that Nakata's not going to let a whole film go by without at least one triumph of the make-up department. If you're the squeamish type, be warned, but don't let that turn you from this complex, wonderful movie. ****

Rating:
Summary: Hideo Nakata brings more suspense to the audience...
Review: Hideo Nakata, who was behind Ringu (1998), has created an interesting and suspenseful story in Chaos as the beautiful wife of a wealthy businessman vanishes. It appears that she is kidnapped, and she is brutally handled by the kidnapper. As the story reveals itself, it develops into a thriller in the spirit of Hitchcock, yet the film has its own character. Throughout Chaos there are several twists and turns which the audience has to squirm through in order to reach the films conclusion. In the end, Chaos is a pretty good criminal drama that offers a fine cinematic experience.

Rating:
Summary: Hideo Nakata brings more suspense to the audience...
Review: Hideo Nakata, who was behind Ringu (1998), has created an interesting and suspenseful story in Chaos as the beautiful wife of a wealthy businessman vanishes. It appears that she is kidnapped, and she is brutally handled by the kidnapper. As the story reveals itself, it develops into a thriller in the spirit of Hitchcock, yet the film has its own character. Throughout Chaos there are several twists and turns which the audience has to squirm through in order to reach the films conclusion. In the end, Chaos is a pretty good criminal drama that offers a fine cinematic experience.

Rating:
Summary: It would have been better if I hadn't seen VERTIGO
Review: I suppose the plot would have been more of a mind-bender if I hadn't seen Alfred Hitchcock's VERTIGO. As it was, many of the plot twists were the same, and the character construction just couldn't live up to Jimmy Stewart and Grace Kelly. I'm always on the lookout for another director with the ability to present complex human emotions and incredible character depth while weaving plot twists that make you dizzy. I just don't think I've found it with this movie.

Rating:
Summary: It would have been better if I hadn't seen VERTIGO
Review: I suppose the plot would have been more of a mind-bender if I hadn't seen Alfred Hitchcock's VERTIGO. As it was, many of the plot twists were the same, and the character construction just couldn't live up to Jimmy Stewart and Grace Kelly. I'm always on the lookout for another director with the ability to present complex human emotions and incredible character depth while weaving plot twists that make you dizzy. I just don't think I've found it with this movie.

Rating:
Summary: It'll run rings around you
Review: There are many sly tricks played on the viewer during the unfolding of the plot in Chaos. Like The Usual Suspects, Best Laid Plans, Memento, Identity and even Wild Things, there's a such a sheer delight in unravelling the tangled web of narrative twists and turns that you never (quite) feel cheated.

Nakata's better known for his horror genre entries (the first two Ring films and Dark Water), yet genre definitions hardly seem important, as he brings to bear the same technique to imbue this neo-noirish film with tension and intrigue. There are scenes which pull the rug from beneath your feet and slap you for feeling smug for trying to second guess what's going on. Not to say that some of the twists aren't obvious, but there enough surprises to keep you doing mental gymnastics to keep up.

A fractured, yet coherent, narrative just short of Nic Roeg's earlier kaleidoscopic filmic puzzles, Chaos leaps about through time to dissect what appears to be a simple case of kidnapping. However, nothing, and no-one, are quite what they seem.

Life may seem chaotic but there's an order to everything - which in itself creates chaos (another ring?). This is in essence the nub of the films' thesis, and a neat correlation to chaos theory - the character's actions throw their worlds in to disorder, but tracing the path through events you can see the structure that forms the chaos and in the end order is restored.

The ending is perhaps a little too poetic for it's own good - but mainly that's because you want there to be more twists and for the story to continue - in itself a kind of underhand compliment.

Chaos is in some ways more satisfying than the Ring films and is much tighter and powerfully executed than most Hollywood films.

Oh and whoever it is in Hollywood who keeps deciding to remake Hideo Nakata's films (Ring already, Dark Water and now Chaos) - please stop. Donate the production money to charity of something and just give the (excellent) originals more press. Anyone who can't follow subtitles doesn't deserve to watch.

Like Ring catch the original and Boycott the upcoming remake.

Rating:
Summary: Hitchcock Style but a Strange Ending
Review: This film starts out with tight scenes that move in and out of time involving the viewer to stay focused or miss out on the plot. It has a real hitchcock style to it which makes it intelligent and intriguing. I wish there was a little more laid out in the beginning so i could understand the ending better. I don't want to spoil this review with what happens, it just doesn't add up. Maybe thats what the director wants, it doesn't follow the logical order and would be considered chaotic. The movie is about a staged kidnapping with an underlying plot as to why it needs to be staged. The acting is very good by the girl, she is somewhat mesmerizing in her actions. I could see there was going to be sparks flying between her and her partner in crime, who was really being used unknowingly at first. She is the one who stages the fake kidnapping in order to extract money from her husband, or is it her husband? The movie is for those who like a mystery and have a questioning mind, but keep in mind the ending doesn't fit with the tightness of the overall script, it feels like it needed to blend with more of a arthouse style script, not a hitchcock style. Worth Viewing.
Lisa Nary