A Rose Reborn

A short directed by the famed director Chan-wook Park starring Daniel Wu and Jack Huston? Sounds amazing, right? Sadly, I should have known it was too good to be true.

Except for the nice-looking photography, the short is really bland and weird. It begins all mysteriously as if it was trying to give us some deep philosophical meaning, only to end in a very anticlimactic and unimpressive manner. The two good actors are given very flat characters and do not have any room to show their talents.

My biggest complaint, however, is about the inconsistency of the main character played by Huston. He was very hesitant to see Wu's character at first but somehow after just one very brief meeting, agreed to fly around the world and humiliate himself for the other guy. That is not character development, that is just lazy writing.

I was so baffled that a visionary director like Chan-wook Park could come up with something as boring as this, so I look into it some more and what do you know, it's sponsored by Ermenegildo Zegna, a high-fashion brand. They are heavily featured in the film, not only in the sense that you can see their products everywhere, but they also blatantly base a central plot point around their suits and accessories. Therefore, this film is no more than an expensive advertisement.