Review by
Eric Hillis
Directed by: Rob Jabbaz
Starring: Regina Lei, Berant Zhu, Tzu-Chiang Wang, In-Ru Chen
Pandemic-influenced movies continue to emerge from all corners of the
globe. From Taiwan by way of Canadian director Rob Jabbaz comes
The Sadness, which uses a deadly virus as the basis for what essentially amounts
to a fast-running zombie movie. Jabbaz isn't exactly subtle in drawing
comparisons to Covid, with TV news shows filled with debates between
economy-conscious politicians and cautious scientists, and members of
the public dismissing the virus as no more harmful than the
flu.
In the manner of films like
Miracle Mile
and Cloverfield, Jabbaz centres his film on two young lovers attempting to reunite
after finding themselves separated in the midst of an apocalyptic event.
Following an early morning argument, Jim (Berant Zhu) and Kat (Regina Lei) depart to their respective workplaces. Jim stops off for coffee and
witnesses a rabid old woman attack a young man, who in turn becomes
violent himself. Within seconds most of the customers have become
infected with this rage virus and are beating each other to a pulp.
Meanwhile, Kat is taking the subway to work when the virus similarly
breaks out in her crowded carriage.
The latter provides The Sadness's most impressively assembled set-piece, and I can't help think it
should have opened the movie. Jabbaz ramps up the tension through Kat's
encounter with a creepy businessman (Tzu-Chiang Wang) who
attempts to hit on her and posits himself as a victim of a cold society
when she rebukes his advances. While this tense interaction is playing
out, other commuters are beginning to sweat in a curious manner. Jabbaz
pulls off this sequence skillfully enough to suggest he has a bright
future, but nothing else in the film matches its intensity.
It's not for the want of trying on Jabbaz's part, as his film is
essentially one gore-filled sequence piled on another. He certainly
pushes the boat out with his excesses, and
The Sadness might be the sickest horror movie since
A Serbian Film, but after a while it all becomes tiresome and begins to feel a little
immature. Any hack can show us something gross or cross taboo lines, but
only a talented filmmaker can put together a sequence like the
aforementioned subway set-piece. After proving his chops, it's
disappointing to see Jabbaz resort to a puerile pile-up of tedious
edginess. Some of the sequences – most notably a TV broadcast by the
government that turns bloody – veer into comedy and are completely at
odds with the grim tone of the rest of the movie.
The Sadness's biggest problem is that it doesn't give us anyone to care about.
Neither Kay nor Jim are anything other than cardboard cut-out
protagonists. Aside from their apparent immunity to the virus, the only
thing that makes them standout from the crowd is their model looks. We
see very little of their personalities, and what glimpses we do get
don't exactly endear us to the young couple. The narrative thrust should
be whether they can reunite before it's too late, but it's difficult to
care when Jabbaz himself seems to treat this as a secondary
afterthought.
Jabbaz's film can't really be labelled a zombie movie, as its rabid
villains are in control of their mental faculties and haven't actually
returned from the dead. It's closer to something like David Cronenberg's
Shivers, with the victims of the virus giving in to their most base impulses.
This of course leads them to follow their sexual impulses in the most
violent of fashion, and it's the sexualised nature of the violence that
makes The Sadness ultimately such a grim watch. And if you
think the film is taking the side of science over commerce, you'll be
surprised at the movie's final act, which seems to betray an anti-vaxx
agenda on the filmmaker's part.
