Notable Cast: Berant Zhu, Regina Lei, Ying-Ru Chen,
Tzu-Chiang Wang, Tsai Chang-Hsien, Lan Wei-Hua, Chi-Min Chou
If there’s one film released this year that ought to create
a divide amongst its viewers, it is most certainly The Sadness. Although
comparisons are being made online to a comic series Crossed regarding its
content, The Sadness is one of those films whose themes and execution
are bound to fester under the skin in one way or another. If it isn’t for the
visuals one is about to experience, then it’s the nihilistic streak in its
themes that simmers underneath its frantic and abrasive surface. Either way,
audiences may have trouble digesting what’s in store.
Conceptually, it’s as if director Robert Jabbaz took the
idea of 28 Days Later, mixed it with The Crazies remake, and then
proceeded to run it through Hong Kong Cat III lenses (a relatively notorious
rating due to its use of graphic violence, sex, and absurdity for those new to
the term) for two decades. The Sadness maintains this intriguing balance
of classic “zombie” survival storytelling that just happens to feature some of
the most brutal gore, violence, and sexual depravity on the screen in decades.