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Diary (2006)

Plot: Winnie Leung (Charlene Choi) is a young adult who is suffering a very bad case of schizophrenia, she finds herself tormented by delusions. It turns out that Winnie’s boyfriend Seth has left her, but she didn’t know. Being comforted by her friend Yvonne (Isabella Leong) she builds up the courage to go to Seth’s work and expose him for the rat that he is, but when asking for him at reception she’s told he had left the company.

Although this unfortunate incident does have a silver-lining, Winnie meets a businessman leaving the building, thinking he’s Seth, but finds out that she’s mistaken. Businessman – Ray (Shawn Yue) seems interested in this peculiar woman. Soon meeting her again she invites him around for some tea. The couple seem to hit it off until one day Ray begins to give her the cold shoulder…

Review: Okay reading that plot makes it seem sensible, but trust me it’s very weird to watch, Charlene Choi’s delusions are pretty crazy, shots of life size puppets and storm clouds creeping around her apartment. You serious don’t know what to believe were constantly shown alternative shots a fine example is the scene where Winnie goes to Seth’s work, the receptionists says “Seth has quit his job here”, then were shown a black & white flashback shot of her saying “Sorry, there isn’t anyone here called Seth Lau”, so I guessed the black & white shots were the reality shots and the colour shots is what Winnie is imaging? No! Later they swap it around showing fake B&W shots and coloured shots for reality! Damn you Oxide Pang!

I found the cast in the movie a little too young for my liking, trust me Charlene Choi and Shawn Yue are more than capable of doing their roles, they put 100% into their performance, but I think a more mature cast would have worked better. Say maybe a Dumplings reunion, Miriam Yeung and Tony Leung Ka-Fai, that would be so haunting! I think both Choi and Yue wanting to test their acting abilities by taking on these roles, stepping outside their safety zones, breaking down the barriers etc.

The is also rather isolated, much like Charlene Choi’s character, the movie spends 90% set in Winnie’s apartment and focused on three characters, Winnie, Ray & Yvonne, although Yvonne is a rather small role.

Now I’m starting to loose faith in the Pang brothers, after being let down by ‘ReCycle’ I find this film isn’t as strong as I’d hoped it to have been either, which will really put me off their movies in the future. But if you’re in the mode for a dark, psychological, mind f*ck of a flick, I’d recommend this to you. Enjoy!

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