Beyond Our Ken (2004) Review

"Beyond Our Ken" Chinese Theatrical Poster

Director: Pang Ho Cheung
Writer: Pang Ho Cheung
Cast: Daniel Wu Yin Cho, Gillian Chung Yun Tung, Tao Hong, Jimmy Wong Ka Lok
Running Time: 98 min.

By Slaxor

After really enjoying Edmond Pang’s previous film, ‘Men Suddenly in Black,’ I was anxious to see how his next film, ‘Beyond Our Ken,’ would turn out. After hearing the basis of the movie and the fact that a member of the ‘Twins’ group is one of the main stars, I nearly passed on the film. I decided differently at the last minute, based on a strong recommendation from a friend, and the presence of Daniel Wu, who I consider to be one of the few promising young actors working in HK today – that is – when he’s not taking it up the ass with his boyband on trips to Disney.

In the end I didn’t feel like my time was totally wasted, but that I probably should have stuck to my original plan. Daniel Wu plays a smarmy (but not really) ex-boyfriend of the Twin present in the film that has been posting intimate pictures of her and himself on the web for everyone to see. When she confronts his current girlfriend, she is at first resistant, but then caves in to the girl power, or something like that, and the plan to get revenge is hatched.

Edmong Pang takes a cue from Wong Kar-Wai in style and throws in a ‘Twin’ for ticket sales, and in the end what we have is a guaranteed paycheck and hopefully some funding for a movie Pang really wants to do. The music for the most part is good but a little off once or twice. It’s off, most noticeably, in a “dower” scene featuring the Twin walking around the city crying. However, it’s set to some sort of uppity mambo tune that just makes no sense and kills the scene’s emotion.

If you are a big fan of the Twins or WKW movies (In style and not content, although it has broad similarities in that regard) you may get some enjoyment out of this film. Otherwise I’d say it’s just worth a rent at best.

Slaxor’s Rating: 5.5/10