Scrolling through the free on-demand movies, looking for something mindless to fall asleep to, ok, trashy title, read the description, blah-blah-Heather Graham (getting my attention)-blah-blah-"by acclaimed director" and then the [MORE] with the arrow. Suspense before the movie even begins!
"by acclaimed director.....[press the arrow]....Kaige Chen."
Huh? Farewell My Concubine Kaige Chen? Yellow Earth? Didn't even know he left China.
I try to reconcile my cognitive dissonance while watching this Lifetime-with-benefits sillyfest. Is there a concubine/ownership of women/East vs West subtext? I construct a noble director vs. evil producer editing room battle narrative. May well be true. I imagine Chen, through an interpreter, slowly unrolling his palimpsest scroll of genres to Hollywood hacks and their only reply is: "But when does Heather Graham get naked?"
In the end, the studios were so dismayed they didn't even give the movie an American theatrical release. That's OK. It happily belongs in Scinemax, straight-to-video, keyword: erotic thriller lateniteland. By the end, I tossed out the "noble director" script and instead envisioned Chen signing the contract, gleefully doing the dollar to yuan conversion in his mind, looking up and saying, in perfect English: "Nudity is in Ms. Graham's contract, correct?"
Rating: 7 out of 10
Recommended also: Body Double
