Thriller is a thing of the past
By JOE LEYDON
The Houston Chronicle
There's something seductively fascinating about the chilly spareness and cryptic allusiveness of writer-director Nicholas Chin's "Magazine Gap Road," a formally precise yet emotionally resonant thriller about going to extremes while escaping the past. This well-crafted Hong Kong import demands and rewards patience with its unhurried entwining of suspense and sensuality, desperate measures and selfless gestures.
The title refers to a tony enclave of wealth and privilege - think River Oaks, only more so - where Samantha (Jessey Meng), a strikingly beautiful ex-prostitute, has successfully reinvented herself as the invaluable assistant to the curator of a museum.
Dr. Lee (Richard Ng), her proud mentor, knows everything about her background - and admires her all the more for transcending it.
But all it takes is a frantic phone call from Kate (Ying Qu), another
"escort" employed by the same flesh-peddler who once controlled
Samantha. Loyal to her friend, Samantha helps Kate hide out long enough
to kick her drug habit, with a little help from Mao (Elvis Tsui), a
disgraced ex-cop. But when it comes to removing the final impediment
to Kate's happily-ever-aftering, Samantha takes a solo approach to problem-solving.
Big mistake.
There's rarely a genuinely warm moment in "Magazine Gap Road,"
a coolly realized drama charged with alternating currents of tragic
inevitability and steely defiance.
Rating: 3 stars