The urban myth in this modern Honk Kong thriller simply makes my skin crawl, and the film effectively pulls you along for an unnervingly captivating ride. However this dark concept is only a stepping tool for the premise to move along, then to focus upon it. Susan Chan's well-oiled story keeps the tempo tight, is held together by a strongly stimulating script and constantly stays busy with its cat-and-mouse layout. These do make up for the predictability of the film's material, and a silly surprise towards the end. Like the other user-comments have mentioned, the many twists that the framework throws up are pretty much foreseeable and some quite questionable, but director Chi-Leung Law still manages to competently construct slabs of unbearable psychological tension and grisly violence that teases the viewer. His direction might be economically executed, but he crafts out a stylishly bold and at times visual feast of perfect timing within his suffocating set-pieces. Going a long way to cementing a creepy atmosphere of despair, and uncertainty is that of a beautifully layered music score, which always packed a sudden sting and the sublime staging of Chi Ying Chan's crisp, moody cinematography. What really is the key of the success are the magnificently flawless lead performances of Angelica Lee and especially Karena Lam. Both bring humane, provocative turns that are truly convincing, and moving in every detail and the hazy relationship between the two characters is truly a complicated web. A very well made and professionally acted film, where from the get-go its faults seem immensely minor to disrupt a very entertaining, worthwhile story.
Review of Koma
