Just perfect...

A story that's too fascinating to pass by...

what a terribly boring film. I'm sorry but this is absolutely not deserving of best picture and will be forgotten quickly. Entertaining and engaging cinema? No. Nothing performances with flat faces and mistaking silence for subtlety.

It is an exhilarating, distressing, funny and profound film, with one of the more memorable film scores in years,

"Diary" ("Mon Seung") initially had my hopes up for being something particularly interesting, as it is a Pang brothers movie. But I suppose I had my expectations up a little bit too high. The movie didn't deliver to the extend I had hoped.That being said, I am not saying that "Diary" is a bad or boring movie, not at all. It just wasn't what I had expected from the story summary I had read.The story is about a lonely and somewhat delusional woman named Winnie (played by Charlene Choi) who spends her time making marionette puppets and writing in her diary. She misses her boyfriend Seth a lot and keeps calling him and leaving him messages. Seth doesn't return these calls though, and she decides to meet him at his work place. There she runs into Ray, who bears a strong resemblance to Seth, and they start a relationship.Initially, then the story wasn't all that strong or powerful. There were aspects to it that seemed not really properly thought through or planned well. And as such, the movie had a tendency to become jumpy and a little bit incoherent at times.The DVD claims 'packed with mind-bending twists and turns, this riveting psychological thriller from the creators of The Eye is packed with eye-popping special effects and will keep you guessing until the final, shocking ending!'. Alright, did we watch the same movie here? Perhaps whomever wrote that had a special edition of the movie that I hadn't, because I couldn't really put that label on the movie.It was nice to see Charlene Choi in a movie such as this, and have her move away from those sugar-coated love romantic comedies that she usually works with. And she managed to step out into a darker universe with grace, because she really performed well in this movie.For an Asian horror movie, then "Diary" was a fairly mediocre result, and there are far better horror movies on the Asian movie market if you want to be properly scared. And definitely not one of the Pang brother's best movies.

This is an electrifying movie. If you have like audition, you will probably enjoy this. The whole plot is great. The murder/torture scene in this movie, to me, is scarier than audition. The woman does not only torture the man, but kills him. The woman in this film is a lot more crazy than the one in audition, making the torture/murder scene much more effective. The part where she kills the man, with the crazy look on her face, scared me a lot more than audition. The story is very well developed. There are no plot holes. This movie is a very sad one, with twists and turns. One major flaw in this movie that audition does not have is the ending of this film. The main character tries so hard to find her husband, but what happened in the end. The ending for this film,is extremely aggravating. One of the most aggravating ending any film would have. Hence, I prefer audition. This film is recommended for fans of mystery and a movie with a good storyline. However, I hated the ending. If you like a phsycological horror with a satisfying ending, go watch Koma and Audition. This movie is still great despite its flaws. 8/10(0.5 points deducted for terrible ending.)

***this comment does contain spoilers that shouldn't, but might spoil the film***Criticisms of the writing and screenplay aside, this is a thoroughly engaging film on the surface. I loved it even though I didn't get it. The creative camera angles, the mostly gray/green color palette accentuating a sense of disease or decay, the original music and sound design, and the beauty of the actors add up to a sensuous ninety minute delight. At times the film seemed adrift on a sea of music carried along by the score instead of leading it, while at other times the conspicuous absence of any sound almost embarrasses the viewer in moments of voyeuristic character study. Having said that, there isn't much depth or background to the characters in Diary, but the focus on their moments of here and now is sharp and clear.Charlene Choi is magnificent as the schizophrenic, sad and lonely Winnie. Her face has a beauty suited to smoldering evil or desperate sadness inside, and she presents this facade so convincingly that in her very few, very brief moments of happiness, the shy and hopeful smile that accompanies the change evokes the poetic innocence of a rescued child. It's captivating and magnetic. It draws the viewer into a collaborative dream of promise that when quickly and sadly broken the feeling of empathy is profound. That's good acting and directing.The ending very clearly presents a major twist. However, as someone writes in the message board here, "I know it was the same person but why had two different faces?" The cast credits list only three people, so one must conclude that the 'real' instigator was Winnie's neighbor but it sure didn't look like the same person to me. Her character was presented as a likely ne'er do well, but I'm not sure if it was her or if it was some alter ego, some schizophrenic other personality of Winnie. I think the ending twist was unnecessary and even though I didn't grasp the director's intent, it didn't bother me remotely enough to spoil the film.Another aspect of the sensuousness of this film concerns the language and subtitles. This is a Hong Kong film, the language is Cantonese. I understand about three words of Cantonese but find the language wonderfully lyrical. Even in the few instances where the characters scream at one another there is a musicality to it. Most of the film drifts along like the melody of a bedtime lullaby, perhaps a byproduct of Charlene Choi's other profession as a (rather famous in Hong Kong) canto-pop singer.Concerning the English subtitles—at least the set that accompanied the film I watched. Subtitles are often a spongey issue. I imagine that one of two things are usually expected: that they are translationally accurate or that they convey more accurately the mood and intent of the speaker. One phrase uttered several times in this film by Winnie is, "I like to make puppets as I always think they are able to share with me". I don't know what that means because it could mean so many thing. I can only hope the native language meaning is also as wonderfully ambiguous.Anyone familiar with someone learning English as a second language has experienced moments of questionable grammar that are crystal clear in meaning and intent. I'm glad the subtitles appear to have been done by someone whose English was a second language. There are many examples, but a few gems for me were: "I like to make puppets and write my diary", "Do you have an affair?" (for, Are you having an affair?), "She instigated me!", and my favorite, "Seth often complained of my cookery." (You'll have to see the movie to enjoy the full impact of that last one.)

Man. What a mind-boggling movie! And what horror. The horror... well, the movie does fall under the horror-movie genre... but the horror comes not from just the audio/visual effects of the movie, but the realisation of what a mind is capable of! The movie revolves the troubled mind of a talented but secluded girl, Winnie, who can't get over the loss of her boyfriend (through break up, car accident, cancer, or...?). Her hobbies are making wooden puppets/dolls and writing in her diary. She confides and seeks comfort with a friend, Yvonne, who gives her advice, like getting even with her boyfriend who dumps her, or getting a new boyfriend to get over the ex one... Soon, Winnie runs into a guy, Ray, who resembles her ex-boyfriend, Seth.Things seem to go well for a while... at least so it records in Winnie's diary... Ray and Winnie live and eat together. But then Ray starts to change and Winnie still feels that Seth is in the house with them. Confusion and suspicion arise. Winnie starts to accuse Ray of change of heart. In an effort to confront Ray of calling her a liar (because she is unable to maintain consistency in her own story-telling), she shows Ray the diary. But only ends up confronting her own ghosts of the past. Sudden realisation overwhelms her and she remembers everything in a flash. In her sheer anger, she kills Ray. Yvonne appears in the nick of time to advise Winnie on how to dispose the body...(Spoiler starts here) Police is called in when the neighbours smell something "fishy" in the corridor. Winnie claims that Yvonne is the mastermind, who instigates her on the killing. She even leads the police into believing that she may have murdered a guy called Seth 2 years ago. When Yvonne is hauled in to ID Winnie, only then the truth is revealed.... The whole time when "Winnie" lives in her world, she takes on the appearance, image and persona of "Yvonne". And Ray, though remotely resembles Seth, is seen as "Seth" in her own world. She sees and hears nothing and no one else. She writes in her diary, only to reinforce the world she has created in her mind and to script everything that is going to happen, because her diary dates as far ahead as in 2007. Meanwhile, the "Yvonne" that keeps appearing in her house, is no one but a life-size wooden doll that she has carved. And all the conversations she has with "Yvonne" and "Seth"/"Ray" are just pure imaginary dialogues. And the real Yvonne and Seth have been her schoolmate and ex-boyfriend respectively. Both end up as husband and wife. Audience by now realise that the very thing that drives Winnie to depression and madness is the betrayal of friendship and love/trust.