Dishonoured ‘Guest’
Uh-huh, that’s right. Another Fantasyland Chinese “thriller” that makes. Zero. Sense.
the Invisible Guest
Director: Chen Zhuo • Writers: Chen Zhuo, Jiang Miaomiao, based on Contratiempo by Oriol Paulo, Lara Sendim
Starring: Greg Hsu, Janine Chang, Kara Wai, Ying Zheng, Qian Yi
China • 1hr 46mins
Opens Hong Kong January 11 • IIB
Grade: C-
Again! It’s happened again! The string of polished, highly illogical Chinese “thrillers” set in fictional, ridiculously named English-speaking places that frequently look like Macau, where loosey-goosey laws are challenged by celebrity lawyers and danger lurks around every corner with Tamil-ish writing on them for the Chinese nationals that live in/are kidnapped to/vacation in them just got longer. This ignominious streak continues with Chen Zhuo’s The Invisible Guest | 瞒天过海, which cranks the lunacy up to atomic levels.
Chen’s turned in a gender-swapped, nearly note-for-note remake of Oriol Paulo’s 2016 Contratiempo, Spanish film that in itself was utterly bonkers in its commitment to twisty narrative. And when I say note-for-note, I mean he seems to have packed in even more absurdity than Paulo did, especially where it concerns “justice”. It’s easy to see the appeal though, and tweaking the source material just enough to fit this ludicrous new mould could be done pretty seamlessly. It was, but that doesn’t make it any less frustrating or head-scratching. Or, you know, just straight-up stupid.
Allow me to explain a 33rd time
I can’t even remember the faux location this time, though the local PD seems comprised of constables that are Filipino, Indonesian, Indian, Malaysian and Chinese (does Chen really think Asia is a monolith?). They’re currently investigating the locked-room murder of the adopted son, Minghao (Ying Zheng), of some big shot politician at the hands of his ex-girlfriend Joanna (Janine Chang Chun-ning, Love After Love, in a hilarious crazy-eyes performance). Joanna is married to a local big shot bizniz dude, some tech mogul I kept wanting to call Mr Snapchat (I think it was Saphat, but I like Snapchat better) and she administers the group’s charities. Joanna’s swanning around her Thai-style (?) tropical modernist compound when Zheng Wei (Taiwanese actor Greg Hsu Kuang-han, Marry My Dead Body) shows up, claiming to be sent by her lawyer. Zheng tells her she has about two hours until the po-po break down her door and lay charges, but he, a cop (?) can make any evidence he can’t turn in her favour disappear. But she has to start talking, and she has to tell him everything. Everything includes a bitter chambermaid (Kara Wai Ying-hung, who stole the show in Last Suspect with a gonzo turn), her missing husband Leo Peng (Qian Yi), their actor son suffering from renal failure, and a very jumpy-scary wild monkey. If you haven’t seen Contratiempo, I’ll stop there, but spoiler: The monkey did it.
That the story is batshit (and not in a good way) is one thing, but Chen and co-writer Jiang Miaomiao double down on insulting the audience by first tacking on about 13 twists too many, and then by recapping the whole story each time a new twist is unravelled. As if you weren’t there to see it five minutes earlier (okay, maybe that’s a good idea for catnappers, or anyone that threw up their hands and thought “To hell with this, I’m going to the toilet.”). No one is defending Paulo’s film for its nuttiness, but the Spanish version eventually sucked you into its singular brand of zaniness and had a sneaky ending that really worked. Chen’s spin on The Invisible Guest isn’t sophisticated enough to pull off the narrative sleights of hand, and he doesn’t have the cast for it. Chang takes Joanna to levels just short of camp – though camp would have been more amusing – and Hsu strains under the weight of all the personality shifts. Dude, sneering isn’t character. There’s a glimmer of hope when Wai shows up; we can always hope she goes full unhinged again, but alas. Not this time. For all its goofiness Contratiempo was free of moral obligations that can kill momentum, and the performances sold its more manageably numbered twists. This? This is just exhausting. And did I mention dumb? — DEK