Catch
the deluxe
version of
Other Crap in
real time,
with all the
bells and
whistles, here.
Bad Biology
2008
1918x1080
This
one will last
close to a week.
It's your
standard
80s-style B
movie with
wall-to-wall
nudity, except
that the 80s
didn't have any
technology that
allowed for the
distribution of
1920x1080 film
clips.
Being a
while since I've gone to
the VHS vault and I've
been looking for this
obscure title since I
capped it off its one
and only TV screening
here around 2001.
Traps is a period drama
set in 1950s Indochina
where Michael (Robert
Reynolds), an English
journalist, has come to
inspect a rubber
plantation so that he
can report back its
success. Joined by his
wife, Louise (Saskia
Reeves), a photographer,
they are tasked to stay
at the house of the
manager of the
plantation Daniel (Sami
Frey), a Frenchman who
has lived in Indochina
for a long while with
his daughter Viola
(Jacqueline McKenzie).
But, all is not well
wherever you look.
Michael and Louise's
marriage is fraying at
the edges and they are
barely holding it
together. Viola
desperately wants out of
her home, first
attempting to conjure a
romance with their
houseboy, Tuan (Kiet
Lam), then becoming
obsessed with wanting to
follow Louise back to
London. While Tuan is
torn between being loyal
to Daniel who gives him
a good life and side
with his people who are
beginning an insurgency
against their French
keepers.
Directed by actress
Pauline Chan (Vietnam,
Bangkok Hilton) who also
recently directed 33
Postcards, Traps is an
interesting movie which
mixes the political
tension with the sexual
and marriage tension
that Michael and Louise
are facing. It is a
fairly good movie for
the most part, but the
ending isn't great,
seemingly going too far
in a certain direction
without notice, causing
what I feel to be an
unsatisfactory ending.
Apart from that, Traps
is not a bad little
movie.
As always with movies
capped from VHS sources,
the quality is not as
good, but this series
has come out better than
most with the occasional
audio glitch and the
bottom of picture is a
little askew, but the
picture quality is good.
Get the feeling this
movie will never see
DVD/Bluray, so this is
possibly the best we'll
get. It's just good to
see again, particularly
that Saskia Reeves
massage scene.