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Puchon Choice: Features

Rule Number One

Kelvin TONG

Hong Kong / Singapore200893min 35mm Color Korean Premiere

Synopsis

Apocalyptic scenes against an Asian metropolis; horrific unexplained deaths; two cops pursuing the homicidal maniac. Truth: An evil spirit hovering over the city starts to occupy the bodies of city-dwellers, to replace and turn them into a blood-thirst killing machines, thus spreading the evil across the town like a pandemic. OK, we've all seen the "doomsday" scenarios before. And like them, this one, too, holds a premise that once "used" by evil entity, the hosts can never resume their original state. Given that, the detectives must protect the uncontaminated by killing the contaminated, only they can't, and mustn't, trust anyone anymore. In a child, a woman, or even their loved ones they must put a bullet if that's what it takes. Dark, solitary urban landscape and slow succumbing of the inner selves all suggest Hong Kong noir flair, with a tinge of zombi fares. (NAM Da Eun)

Diretor

Kelvin TONG

Best known for his Stockholm International Film Festival’s FIPRESCI prize winning feature Eating Air (1999), he became a brand name in cutting-edge Singapore cinema. After that, he steadily makes excellent films such as the slick horror movie The Maid (2005) and the 2006 Locarno International Film Festival’s closing film Love Story.