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Ho Wi Ding tells the story of a troubled man in reverse chronological order
Cities Of Last Things
Dir/scr: Ho Wi Ding. Tai-Chi-USA-Fr. 2018. 107mins
Opening with a disillusioned ex-cop plummeting to a squelchy death on the concrete below his apartment building, the latest feature from Malaysia-born, Taiwan-based filmmaker Ho Wi Ding proceeds to explore the circumstances that sealed his protagonist’s fate through reverse chronology. Structured as a triptych, with each section not only focusing on a different time period but also boldly playing with the tropes of a different genre, this international co-production is Ho’s most ambitious effort to date. Those who have followed the director since his charming breakthrough feature Pinoy Sunday (2009) will find Cities of Last Things to be a jarringly exciting development, as Ho has recently specialized in undemanding crowd-pleasers like Our Sister Mambo (2015) and Beautiful Accident (2017).
The film is at its most arresting in its slick neo noir middle section
With a hypnotic aesthetic that fuses Tsai Ming-liang and Wong Kar-wai at their most despondent with the headlong plunge of Gaspar Noé, Cities of Last Things should make a splash on the festival circuit following its world premiere at Toronto. Commercial prospects may be limited as much by Ho’s almost suffocating emphasis on deep-seated urban anguish as the challenge of marketing a...