Fantasia CR: Re-Cycle

Re-Cycle is the new film from Chinese auteurs the Pang Brothers (The Eye).

Struggling to write a new book, a reclusive author is sucked into an alternate reality that appears to be some kind of dumping ground for her rejected ideas. But there’s something that has brought her here, something else she’s rejected, and her life is about to come full circle…

Watching Re-Cycle, you get the sense that the Pangs are in opposition to the idea of less is more. The film’s momentum is continually overtaken by it’s ambitions, spending most of it’s time on a lengthy tour of another world before revealing the point. The premise itself is actually quite interesting, but gets bogged down by an overly complicated treatment.

The bottom line is that what should have been a relatively simple plot construction turns into an elaborate epic that is just too much and never quite knows when to stop.