A Lone Voice Crying In The Wilderness

1. "Travellers And Magicians." In a small village in the Himalayan nation of Bhutan, one villager has bigger dreams than the rest: he wants to leave his little town behind and journey to the promised land of America, where he dreams of making it big. But on the way, he acquires a travelling companion who begins to tell him a story of another Bhutanese man who wanted to travel to a "dreamland" and found the outside world not so friendly. As the traveller's dark tale of danger proceeds, we see some uncanny parallels begin to emerge...

"Travellers And Magicians" is a strange blend of styles. It leads you into thinking you'll be getting one of those picturesque and subtle stories of life among the far corners of the far east like "Spring, Summer, fall, Winter... And Spring", and the film certainly has more than its share of beautiful scenic vistas and quiet moments of philosophy and observation. But before you can get too settled into enjoying the scenery, the story takes a dark, twisted turn into territory that might seem more at place in the American film noir thrillers of the 1940's, as the tale that the Bhutanese villager's travelling companion tells him becomes more sinister and filled with murderous jealousy.

Is the film trying to say that the petty emotions that can destroy lives exist in even the remote, idyllic settings in which this film takes place? Or is it telling us that the "civilized" world is a constant danger to the remote people and places, ready to destroy their way of life if it can get a foothold? Or maybe it's just am entertaining thriller with a very unique manner of telling its familiar story? Could be any of these, though I do have some major doubts about the third. In any event, it makes for a unique and fascinating saga.

Either of the two parallel plot lines on its own could have made for an absorbing couple of hours at the movies, but the way the stories interwine with and comment on each other results in a film the likes of which you've rarely if ever seen. If you happen to be open to movies that take you beyond your usual comfortable genres and don't mind working a bit to get a film's meaning, a viewing of "Travellers And Magicians" will almost certainly be a very rewarding experience.

2. "The Ring Two." Here we come to the significance of today's title: I feel like that lone voice crying in the wilderness as I deliver what might possibly be (but I hope not) the only positive review you'll read of "The Ring Two." Time after time after time I've been reading critics complaining about the film's attempts at making things like pooling water and deer by the roadside into objects of terror, saying those things just aren't scary. I've been reading them complain that the film doesn't explain what all the different plot points mean and what it all signifies? And you know what I say to that? Well, actually, I probably can't say that here.

In this follow-up to the 2002 film, which was itself a remake of the Japanese original, the little girl whose ghost kept causing so much trouble is still hanging around, only now she wants to come back into our world in the form of the Naomi Watts characters's young son. Watts' attempts to prevent her possessing him make for an extremely creepy couple of hours at the movies, no matter what most of the critics are saying.

Director Hideo Nakata, taking over from the original's Gore Verbinski, made all three of the original Japanese "Ring" films and turns this sequel into one of the genuinely eeriest mainstream multiplex movies to come along in a long time. No monsters, no blood and guts... but perfectly normal things like water and deer become genuinely frightening in a much more Japanese-style movie than the first "Ring."
I personally think it's scarier, as well. Of course, if you prefer to have things spelled out for you and to have everything explained, you might have a problem. Hmm... maybe that's the problem so many critics have with it, though many of them liked "The Blair Witch Project," which didn't exactly make everything crystal clear either.

This is, after all, a story of the SUPERnatural... forces beyond nature and therefore beyond our complete understanding. If a supernatural horror movie is so filled with spooky atmosphere that the most ordinary scenes send chills down your spine, and make those chills return as you think about the film two days after seeing it (as they're doing now as I type this), then am I going to mind not understanding every little thing about it? I think you already know the answer to that question.
What I AM going to do, though, is to recommend that anyone who liked "The Ring" should go to see "The Ring Two" (the title actually IS spelled out like that). I very much doubt that you'll be disappointed.