Eye For Film >> Movies >> Ali Shan (2009) Film Review
Ali Shan
Reviewed by: Val Kermode
This short film has such a dull, grainy and generally poor quality that it looks as if it could have been made with my second best camera. The one I bought in Poland and always wished I hadn’t. But I was prepared to forgive a hard-up first-time film maker. Then I notice that he’s billed as “acclaimed director, Yung Chang” with several previous films to his name, and now I don’t feel so generous.
People wait to board a train. The train takes them to what appears to be a mountainside stop. They put on cardboard glasses, the sort you wear for viewing an eclipse. Then the sun comes up and they watch it for a while with vaguely happy expressions. There is no dialogue. The music on the soundtrack is as fuzzy as the visuals. It’s neither beautiful nor inspiring. But at least it only lasts six minutes.
Reviewed on: 08 Nov 2009