Isabella

A-

Directed by Ho Cheung Pang

I first saw "Isabella" at last year's Fantasia Film Festival and at the time didn't know it was directed by Ho Cheung Pang, director of the excellent "Men Suddenly in Black" and Beyond our Ken" which makes me even more grateful I happened on this film by chance. When I watched it at Fantasia I loved it which was why I was delighted to see it sitting in the DVD racks at the BANQ, albeit graced by one of the gaudiest cover designs I've ever seen.

Unlike "Beyond our Ken" and "Men Suddenly in Black," Ho Cheung Pang this time sets a film in Macau, a welcome changeup from the marvelous but admittedly familiar streets of Hong Kong. The fikm begins scandalously enough as detective Shing, a dirty cop embroiled in a drug smuggling scandal, ends up sleeping with a young lass he met at the bar who, after the deed, informs him that she is in fact his daughter and requires $3,000 to disappear from his life forever. Of course, this isn't a Todd Solondz movie (thank God for that...) so the uneasy incest plotline only stays alive for about five minutes before we find out that, although the young girl is in fact Shing's daughter, they never actually slept together. Phew!

The rest of the film unfolds at a rather leisurely pace, following Shing and his daugher's growing and at times uneasy relationship as the law begins to bear down on Shing for his past crimes, threatening to tear asunder the new bond between father and daughter.

The plotline of "Isabella" is simple enough and no conventions are broken in Ho Cheung Pang's film, which is frankly a good think because he the simplicity of the story allows the film to breathe, in a way. The DP, whoever he is (I was too lazy to check, Ill admit it) does a wonderful job, filling the film with wonderful images and an overall aesthetic that at once recalls Ho Cheung pang's earlier films while being quite unique in it's own right. Much like Ho Cheung Pang's previous work, "Isabella" doesn't seem to be geared towards teaching the audience a particular moral lesson aside from the fact that redemption is possible and humans can get past their problems easier together than alone.

Highly recommended.