It always seems easy to make a good movie. With the poorly constructed, substance-lacking, frustratingly moody mess of narrative that is Ms. Purple, Justin Chon proves conclusively that it is not. While Mrs. Purple attempts to evoke the sad tale of two estranged siblings, Kasie (Tiffany Chu) and Carey (Teddy Lee), caring for their father on his deathbed in Koreatown, it really only creates a confusing atmosphere of expired family dynamics.
I once heard someone say that Sophia Coppola is the master of creating an atmosphere. You can definitely see that in Lost in Translation, where every element of the film works in perfect synchronization to put the viewer in a hotel in Tokyo, longing for something undefined just outside their reach. Nothing is too aggressive or too blunt. Every subtly adds to the mood. Too often, filmmakers forget that subtlety. They brush emotion onto their story with the eager incompetence of a child learning to watercolor. And like that child, their work descends to watery confusion, with no real peaks and no real valleys. The viewer is overwhelmed and set off by the single tone, and they quickly lose interest. Ms. Purple makes exactly that error. Characters trudge from scene to scene, shoulders sagged and head in their hands. Any form of joy is uncommon and short-lived, lest the audience confuse their tragedy for something else. Sulking becomes a crutch, rather than an embellishment.
If this were the film’s only fault, it may have been forgiven. It’s beautifully shot, after all, and there’s a few scenes that, in isolation, have considerable potential. Unfortunately, it’s hardly the beginning. The dialogue is something out of a high-school project shot in 30 minutes after school in the courtyard. The editing is done with confidence of a veteran with miles of red carpet behind them and the proficiency of a first-year film student who only ever read the textbook and never actually watched any examples. The music is intrusive and poorly chosen and seldom fits the scene. The flashbacks are too infrequent to add anything to the story, and the narrative has no identifiable structure. In fact, the film’s most blatant flaw may be that it ends in exactly the same place it started, with nothing learned along the way. The characters begin sad, stay sad, and end sad. Building atmosphere is tossed aside in favor of overwhelming the audience.
There’s definitely more, but exhausting the list is a useless exercise. The movie is not enjoyable and it deserves little recognition. Not worth the price of admission.
1/5 STARS