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World Fantastic Cinema

Avatar

Jian Hong KUO

Singapore2004 98min Digi-Beta Color

Synopsis

Creating an Avatar is the best way to hover between reality and cyberspace at present. The near future is the material of this SF movie, which borrows the atmosphere of 'Blade Runner', and the story form from 'Matrix'. The film is about ' identity', which was discussed in Postmodernism borders. The background is an Asian city in the future. Detective Wang, who tries to expose a 'cyber-link' plot of a huge control system, and a western hunter, Dash, trace a criminal who laugh at the system, are the main axis of the film. They become a team to uncover the huge secret of the cyber-link, which is controlled by the government. They try to find a way to destroy it. The film, which used 300 cuts of CG, was made with China’s modern technology, while the props were based on the idea of Jangja (the transfer space on the bed is very impressive). It shows us an Oriental science fiction. The director, Kuo Jian Hong, who was born in Singapore, focuses on the harmony between the moon and the sun as an Asian man and a Western woman, dark and bright, strong and soft, top and bottom. It focuses on the theme through Asian emotions. The music is a great part of the film and is similar to 'Blade Runner'. Avatar represents the bright and colorful future, while on the other hand, Blade Runner is fin-de-siecle dark. The absence of a villain and the loose plot make the audience relax from the tension. The Asian idea of the film, which is looking for one’s own essence in one’s own roots, is different from Hollywood.

Diretor

Jian Hong KUO

Jian Hong is a graduate of U.T Austin(BFA-theatre design), U of Hawaii(MFA-directing) and U of Iowa(MFA-design). She started her directing career with the TV movie Grandpa's Meat Bone Tea for Television Corporation of Singapore. It was awarded Best Telefeature at the Singapore International Film Festival. Her independent feature credits include (producer), Dog Story(director, producer), and Avatar(director, producer), the first sci-fi feature from Singapore. Currently she is producing the urban horror film Dead Terror. She is also the Co-Artistic Director of The Theatre Practice, the premier bilingual theatre company in Singapore.