Koma (2004)
By: Markus Zussner on September 29, 2006.
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| Eastern Eye (Australia). Region 4, PAL. 1.78:1 Anamorphic Cantonese DD 5.1, Cantonese DTS 5.1, Cantonese DD 2.0. English Subtitles. 84 minutes |
| The Movie |
| Cover Art |
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| Credits |
Director: Chi-Leung Law
Starring: Kar Yan Lam, Angelica Lee, Roy Chow
Screenplay: Susan Chan Country: Hong Kong |
Two girls, a boy, and the kidney that got in the
way. Conceived from the now well known urban myth
of waking up in a bathtub of ice facing a mirror
with the message "call the police or you will
die" written on the face. You call the police
from your trusty bath phone and they ask you to
get out of the bath and step in front of the mirror.
You get out of the tub and think things are bad
enough with shrunk nuts and stiff nipples but once
in front of the mirror you discover a lovely hole
where your kidney should be. And so from this myth, Koma is born.
There's this girl called Suen. Drunk and
staggering away from a wedding party holding onto
the walls of a hotel corridor to keep herself
up, she passes a strange but beautiful girl and
then accidentally staggers into an open hotel
room to find another girl but this time naked
and slivering around on the floor in her own blood.
There's a message on the mirror that says
"Call the police or you will die".
Problem was there was no phone in the bathroom
so it made it made the task extremely difficult
to do. Screaming, Suen runs out of the room. She
senses the killer close behind but manages to
get away merely by making the decision not to
turn round and look. Suen alerts the staff of
the Hotel. After being interviewed by the police,
the only lead Suen can give them is the strange
girl she bumped into prior. She then runs to the
comfort of her boyfriend. Next day she is back
at the police station fingering out the strange
girl in a police line-up. The police question
their new suspect named Fung who has a sick mother
in hospital that needs special care and treatment
that she just can't afford. Fung lays on
the poor girl in troubled times so well that the
police buy it. They can find no link between Fung
and the missing kidney so Fung is free to go.
As a matter of fact quite a few Kidneys have been
abducted lately leaving naked women lying around
in baths of ice not as complete as they used to
be, staring at "Call the Police or you will
die" messages.
Now later on Suen gets a call from Fung the girl
she ratted out in the police line-up. Not the
usual call you would expect like "thanks
for dragging me into this, I am innocent so mind
your own business or I'll slap your face"
but more to the point like "Hi, I am going
to steal your Kidney" which obviously really
freaks Suen out. She tells the police about the
call but they are reluctant to believe her. Now
here is where the story takes another turn. Suen
is having lunch with her boyfriend that she someday
hopes to marry when guess who turns up. There
is an altercation that makes it obvious that our
dear boyfriend has been playing hide the sausage
with both of them. Fung is a beautiful but nasty
piece of work who likes taunting Suen because
Fung is spitefully envious of people who have
everything and get it so easily while she has
to struggle to keep her mother alive and make
ends meet. Finally the moment arrives when Suen
awakens in a large freezer surrounded by large
blocks of ice to see her boyfriend's psycho
mistress along with a do-it-yourself medical student
ready to perform some home surgery. Just before
they are all about to get down to it Suen lets
the rabbit out of the hat and tells Fung that
she is suffering from renal failure and that her
kidney is useless. Well talk about dropping a
baby on its head. This changes everything and
the two women become the best of friends and live
happily ever after. Well not quite...
Blood and Guts Thriller this ain't. Despite
everything that is going on in this movie, it
has to be one of the most boring and slow paced
thrillers I have ever endured second only to Brian
De Palmas Dressed to Kill. Director
Lo Chi Leung certainly makes use of the same conventions
and techniques that De Palma and Hitchcock used
to great effect to thrill their audience, but
in the end it felt like a twisted episode of Days
of our Lives. There's certainly
nothing in this movie at all that jumped out of
the screen, grabbed me around the throat and said,
"Freak out man!!" For those who like
their thrillers twisted all the way round like
a Chinese burn and with much gusto, stay away
from Koma as it is likely to
put you right into one. Something I find silly
about the Kidney stealing myth is the message
on the mirror. It should be "Call for an
Ambulance or you will die" rather than call
the police. I am sure that I would want to be
stitched up first before reporting my Kidney stolen
to the local authorities. |
| Video |
| Presented in 16:9 Anamorphic Widescreen 1.78:1.
This movie looks great. The print is pretty much
flawless. We have crystal clear picture and great
colour and depth in either day or night scenes.
Nice interactive menu. |
| Audio |
| What I love about Eastern Eye is most of their
product is DTS enabled, like Koma.
Sound is great. It is crisp clear and constant with
no sound defects in any way. It's not the
type of film that has lots of sound effects like
bullets, explosions or flying cows that your 5.1
or DTS love to throw back at you; however the highlight
is the soundtrack which is genuinely creepy and
utilised to maximum effect. |
| Extra Features |
| Koma featurette: Duration 15 minutes 30 seconds.
Cantonese with English subtitles. Director, Producer
and cast discuss conception of the film and what
makes a good thriller.
Stills Gallery: 15 photo stills of various scenes
Original Koma Trailer
Eastern Eye Trailers: The Eye 2, Brotherhood of War, Born
to Fight, Bangkok Dangerous. |
| The Verdict |
As beautifully crafted and as visually stunning Koma is from the excellent camera
techniques, lighting composition, the sets and locations,
and the wonderful performances from the two female
leads Karena Lam and Lee Sinje, for a thriller,
sadly Koma is all whimper and no
bite.
Not to be confused with Michael Crichton's
Organ stealing thriller from 1977 Coma Starring Michael Douglas. This is Koma with a K which translated into English means "Help"
or "Save" I believe. |
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