Fruit Chan is a lovely man living in a lovely world of connections that he sometimes shows us. Some of his other films have touched me with their elaborate order over things that while strange seem to reveal nature.
He works by evoking smell and taste into the images. This film does that as well as any of the others I know. But its intensity is likely to elude you — as it did me — until you learn about this durian fruit. It is so powerful in its smell, and so repulsive, that it is often banned from public places. It is chemically similar to skunk, hard to open and physically ugly, yet there are people who love it.
This durian phenomenon is primarily a geographic thing; the film is about alien visits, people where they do not belong. There is lots of coming and going, performing of different kinds, families of different kinds, and cleanliness of different types. Durian come and go... not many of them, but then there are not many of anything here: its all about the layers.
This man is a wonderful artist. I will see everything of his that I can, and expect to be reporting pleasure that I can taste.
Ted's Evaluation -- 3 of 3: Worth watching.
