Slippery and surprising, full of odd details and insights, and leaching significant visual and thematic texture from its unusual setting, Liang Ming’s “Wisdom Tooth” must be one o…
Slippery and surprising, full of odd details and insights, and leaching significant visual and thematic texture from its unusual setting,’s “Wisdom Tooth” must be one of the year’s most remarkable debuts.
Guxi has a toothache. She complains about it to her half-brother Guliang , with whom she has a relationship close enough for him to sponge down her back during trips to the local bathhouse. But the pain from a new back molar cutting through is the most minor of the problems they face.
Guliang is not above scrubbing down the fish to make them look less sickly, but when it’s pointed out that he could get in real trouble if his wares end up poisoning people, he reluctantly gives in, takes a new job as a dockyard security guard. Falling in with the shady plans of his amiable but bumbling, shaggy-headed best friend Dongzi , he meets Qingchang , a glamorous young woman who has recently returned to live with her mob-affiliated father after a stint in South Korea.
All of these warring impulses and tangled intentions might be overload if, as screenwriter and director,were even a little less invested in creating such real, dimensional characters, whose idiosyncratic behaviors and quirks are knitted into the fabric of every scene. Guliang bites on a failing battery to get it to work again. Guxi crushes garlic with a chopstick, sulkily peels a tangerine and falls asleep, mouth open and drooling, on the hotel bed she’s supposed to be making.
It’s rare to come across a coming-of-age story — because this, finally, is really what “Wisdom Tooth” is — that tracks the pivot point of change for its central character with such precision, noting Guxi’s reversals and prevarications as she tries to work out the kind of person she is going to be in the world.
México Últimas Noticias, México Titulares
Similar News:También puedes leer noticias similares a ésta que hemos recopilado de otras fuentes de noticias.
Macao Film Review: ‘Bellbird’Mild, mellow and as life-affirming as a soft fall of springtime New Zealand rain, Hamish Bennett’s charming if overfamiliar debut feature “Bellbird” — so named after a species of …
Leer más »
Macao Film Festival Crowns Industry Winners; Philippines Horror ‘Dear Wormwood’ Takes Best ProjectThe 2019 edition of the International Film Festival & Awards Macao (IFFAM) closed its industry program last night (December 8), with the event’s Best Project Award going to Dear Wormwood,…
Leer más »
‘Bombshell’: Film ReviewI suspect I won’t be alone in saying that I went into “Bombshell” with a touch of skepticism. The movie is a lively and scabrous docudrama — not a snarkfest (though some of it is biting…
Leer más »
‘Jumanji: The Next Level’: Film ReviewWhen Sony dusted off its 22-year-old “Jumanji” movie for a distant sequel in 2017, it looked to some as though Hollywood had hit rock bottom in terms of pillaging its own properties. In fact, “Juma…
Leer más »
'Bombshell': Film ReviewCharlize Theron, Nicole Kidman and John Lithgow play, respectively, Megyn Kelly, Gretchen Carlson and Roger Ailes in Jay Roach's film about sexual harassment at Fox News, co-starring Margot Robbie.
Leer más »
'Jumanji: The Next Level': Film ReviewThe kids-turned-adult heroes of the previous 'Jumanji' are joined by oldsters Danny DeVito and Danny Glover in Jake Kasdan's sequel.
Leer más »