| He dabbled in romance, martial arts with a lean towards sadism but in Lost Souls, director Mou Tun-Fei displayed what has been evident in his work after leaving Shaw Brothers: a socially conscious mind willing to showcase the back alleys of human evil, times ten! The narrative here surrounding illegal immigrants from China being tortured and abused by smugglers makes a point. Mou's downfall is that he's already clearly made a point early on and the remainder of the film just goes into extreme overdrive trying to hammer home the message via exploitation elements. Not that he's ever been afraid of doing so or is the first director on the block with these sensibilities but the disgust that is generated doesn't lead into favorable impressions about the filmmaking. This verdict is something I've gathered from Mou's subsequent known output Men Behind The Sun and Black Sun: The Nanking Massacre so I can honestly say it's a shame a conscious mind squanders his opportunities to give the world something to REALLY think about. Chan Shen is one of the only recognizable faces in a lead role. |
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