Matino

Directed by: Oxide Pang Chun and Danny Pang
Genre: Fantasy / Horror / Mystery
Cast: Angelica Lee, Lawrence Chou, Siu-Ming Lau, Qiqi Zeng
Country: Hong Kong/Thailand
Running Time: 108 minutes.
Language: Madarin/Cantonese
Also known as:Gwai wik
IMDb link: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0498311/

Torrent
 
SYNOPSIS
A successful young writer working on her highly anticipated sophomore novel struggles with a crippling case of writer’s block. Isolating herself inside her apartment in a desperate attempt to regain her inspiration, she gradually loses her grip on reality as the bizarre world of her unfinished book comes to life before her eyes.
REVIEW
One of my favorite horror movies to date is the Pang Brother’s The Eye, which told the story of a blind woman getting a corneal transplant through a donor. Unfortunately for her, the donor had the genetic predisposition to see ghosts. Of course, like all asian horror movies, it was remade for the American audience to digest. So if you’re in the mood to have the shit scared out of you, go rent the original; it’s that good.
Ending sermon though, I have come into contact with the Pang Brother’s latest outfit, Re-Cycle. A visually stunning and emotionally driven film. What’s different about this movie than Eye is that it’s not much of a bonafide horror movie but more of a psychological thriller, reminiscent of movies like Jacob’s Ladder and Stanley Kubrick’s version of The Shining.

The film revolves around a singular female protagonist, Tsui Ting-Yin (Angelica Lee), a successful novel writer whose books have been made into Lifetime/Oxygen Channel-esque movies. You know, the type of movies with a lot of romance and unnecessary tragedy, real tear jerkers. She announces a new book, Gwai Wik (or “Re-Cycle”) which is more aligned with the supernatural.
Along with the stresses of writing a new book, her estranged husband returns to her after 8 years and wants to reconcile with what they had. Unfortunately, the movie’s handling with this conflict is set aside for the majority of the movie to put more focus on the events that transpire. So, character development between the two isn’t put in the spotlight until way later at the end of the movie.
Indeed, these events, like the estranged husband, are anything but welcoming to Ting-Yin. As she progresses deeper and deeper into putting herself into the main character’s shoes, things turn belly-up. We are treated with typical asian horror cliches: long-haired ghosts wandering around behind opaque pane doors, scaring the shit out of everyone (including the audience). However, that is the least of Ting-Yin’s worries as she begins to slowly delve deeper into the world of “recyclables.”