"Chaos" begins as story of a handyman and a married woman who conspire to extort money from the woman's husband by faking her kidnapping. But when the woman is murdered, the story begins a series of twists and becomes a cinematic pretzel. What is a stylish shoot with competence on both sides of the lens eventually sinks into a quagmire of convolution full unnecessary complications such as the Memento-like show-the-past-first incremental flow with important bits of information kept from the audience as a cheap ploy to create intrigue and mystery. The result is a movie which is likely to lose those who are busily reading subtitles which has a scant human story as it is too busy trying to untwist itself. Finally, this is not a thriller but a mystery. And the biggest mystery seems to be, why should we care? A B-flick for Japanese movie buffs only. (C+)
