writtenby.jpg
Written By is a complex and ambitious story about grief and how to move past it from Hong Kong director Wai Ka-fai. Melody is just a girl when her father is killed in a car accident but she and her family never really recover. As a young adult she decides to write a novel in which her father survived but she, her mother and brother all died instead. The father in this novel also starts writing a novel in which his wife returns as a ghost, his son as a fluffy dog and his daughter is the protégé of the deity who controls the underworld. Confusing? Yes, a little. This is as light and funny as a movie about death and ghosts can be but it seemed rather emotionally flat, especially once all three storylines start to mix and mingle together. We get that the family loves each other and wants to stay together but the fantasy, which keeps the film quiet lively and entertaining, also diffuses the emotion.
It's on Oct 3rd at 7pm at the Ridge and Oct 6th and 12th at the Granville Theatre.