- 2 days ago
Here’s my review of the film, Lost Souls.
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Short filmTranscript
00:12hello guys how's it going it's me beau back here on the film scene investigation channel thank you
00:20so much for checking out this video well it's a new week here and of course that means a new
00:28review and today i'm going to be taking a look at a controversial movie from hong kong entitled
00:36lost souls the movie's subject matter yeah it's um pretty dark and disturbing so um it's not for
00:48the faint-hearted just before we get into the review guys as always if you haven't already
00:54please do consider subscribing to the channel all the support is greatly appreciated so lost souls
01:03from 1980 was a movie that was directed by the filmmaker tun fei mo and was produced by the
01:12shaw brothers studio now this is one of the more notorious titles to come out of hong kong cinema
01:18with its dark and depressing nature it's safe to say that the director tun fei mo didn't hold back
01:30in his pursuit to showcase the atrocities that were happening around him i mean um as i said it's a
01:40pretty disturbing and brutal film that um ended up getting heavily censored upon release as for the
01:48story it's centered on a young chinese couple and song and her boyfriend sang tongue who were
01:56attempting to leave mainland china to begin a new life they had had enough of their time back in china
02:04they were tired of the you know government regime that was going on and they were hoping to get to
02:10hong kong for not just a new life but a safe haven the film began with this large boat full
02:19up of
02:20immigrants attempting to get to hong kong of course they were seeking asylum but the chinese authorities
02:28were going to do everything in their power to prevent that from happening at one point we saw
02:36many of the immigrants captured by the authorities rounded up and handcuffed luckily for and shong
02:45her boyfriend and her brother they were able to escape the group saw what was going on and they knew
02:53that they had very little chance of outrunning all these soldiers with guns and so they decided to swim
03:00back swim to you know a safe place they swam all night and eventually reached a nearby village yes they
03:09had failed in their attempt to reach hong kong but that didn't deter them yeah they were going to go
03:15and
03:16try again but this is when an old man came along on the side of the road he spotted them
03:22and offered
03:23them sanctuary back at his house in what seemed to be an act of kindness of course the guys were
03:34exhausted
03:35and well they were extremely grateful for the generosity of this random stranger so of course
03:42they followed him they went back to the house and they let their guard down you know they thought that
03:50they could trust this guy but it turned out that this old man was actually a bad guy he was
03:59in the
03:59process of trying to call up his friends and sell the guys as slave labor and i kind of thought
04:07that this
04:08old guy this old codger i i sensed that he was up to no good and well it turned out
04:18i was right
04:19so the old man made the phone call he set up the deal and yeah he was just another predator
04:26trying to
04:27make a quick buck of other people's suffering the deal itself ended up going wrong with the guys
04:36attempting to escape and run through the jungle terrain but eventually they were caught and once again
04:44imprisoned and you know at this point i did feel bad for these guys i mean they were risking it
04:54all
04:54trying to get to hong kong in the first place they were nearly killed after they you know got out
05:00of the
05:00boat they made it back to sanctuary only to be betrayed and yeah i mean what a run of bad
05:09luck
05:09we were then introduced to mr hock and another group of traffickers scumbags and they rounded up even
05:21more immigrants and imprisoned them too yeah we just saw loads of torture loads of beatings
05:30it was it was very disturbing to see it all play out you know it's one thing to imprison someone
05:39i mean
05:39that's bad enough but to you know the whole sexual humiliation you know treating these people like
05:48cattle you know it was uh very dehumanizing i think would be the uh best word to describe it
05:57now talking of torture it wasn't until about 26 minutes into the film that we actually saw the
06:05depravity unfold prior to that point the film in terms of graphic content um there were none and so
06:15yeah when i watched it for the first time initially i was um starting to question where all the you
06:24know
06:24brutality you know when did it start because uh as i said the first kind of half an hour or
06:30so
06:30it was pretty tame usually with these types of films in the exploitation genre a lot of the violence
06:38um you know it kicks off pretty quickly so yeah i mean given lost souls was a notorious title
06:46known for its brutality yeah it did surprise me but obviously once it began um it didn't stop and so
06:57in
06:57that sense it was kind of a build-up to the torture which um i don't know kind of gave
07:03it a little bit
07:04more realism lost souls was a movie that explored the very real life social and political issues that
07:13were going on at the time once the film was released it did receive some negative criticism
07:21because it was deemed very sensational now while i agree that the film didn't hold back in you know
07:31showcasing all of the graphic content you know that we've seen so often in exploitation films
07:38we have to remind ourselves that this was very much the intention of the director
07:45the filmmaker tan fei mo he used this movie as a way to express his disdain for the chinese communist
07:55party he wanted to expose the real life atrocities that were happening around him you know that he was
08:04witnessing and he wanted to confront the audience with the harsh realities that the immigrants were
08:11facing many chinese immigrants thousands upon thousands made the perilous journey to hong kong
08:20a way to escape and well many didn't make it to hong kong and for those who didn't make it
08:27they either died or subject to slave labor by sex traffickers all of what i'm saying actually
08:35happened it wasn't some make-believe story and so with that you had the critics come out
08:44and yeah you know be negative on this film for it being too sensational and dehumanizing you know people
08:52on screen but i mean for me the criticism it wasn't warranted because ultimately the subject matter
09:02itself is very dark it's very depressing it was a real life tragedy and so in that sense unless you
09:13want the filmmaker to make some fantasy story you know fairy tale of course the film is gonna be
09:24dark it's gonna be depressing and um you know hey what did you expect i also noticed there seemed to
09:31be
09:32some gay subtext inserted into the story with the main antagonist mr hock this guy was a degenerate
09:42scumbag who took charge of the compound that housed all the imprisoned immigrants mr hock who was played
09:52by actor shen chan had a number of young men who worked with him you know other traffickers that made
09:59sure that all the immigrants stayed locked up they were almost like um i don't know impromptu prison
10:07guards these men who worked for mr hock they were just as degenerate as him you know sadistic and
10:17occasionally indulging in you know sexual abuse with the female immigrants but what was interesting was
10:26when it came to mr hock the only time that he ever got sexually involved with someone was when he
10:34was
10:34assaulting a young male immigrant i mean the scene itself was uh yeah probably the most disturbing
10:43scene for me um in the entire film having this young guy um who looked maybe i don't know 20
10:5121
10:52something like that being tied to this bench as mr hock had his sadistic way with him um i mean
10:59the scene
11:00itself it lingered on for a few minutes and uh it was something that i could have um done without
11:06but the reason i bring this up anyway is because for me there was more to it than just this
11:13random
11:14assault of this young man you see the men who worked for mr hock the other guys they brought in
11:22this immigrant they brought him in to be specifically abused by mr hock and so once you kind of add
11:32all
11:32that up it's clear to me that these men who were working for mr hock they knew that he was
11:41gay sexually
11:42attracted to men and so they brought him his next victim you know once you understand that
11:51then you have to start questioning the relationship between mr hock and these his workers these guys
11:59that did his dirty work for him because certainly from a visual standpoint
12:07it was a bit questionable because there were several scenes where we saw these men walking around
12:15kind of yeah basically naked in front of their boss even though this wasn't fully explored there
12:24definitely was an underlying gay connotation to this group and um yeah certainly it was um something i
12:33just picked up on while all the brutality played out in front of me now with the film shooting on
12:40location and using real sets it gave the film a very gritty almost kind of documentary like feel to it
12:51you know the kind of low budget vibe which was very different to what the shaw brothers studio was
12:59producing at times we got these wide shots and we could see the vast terrain and it certainly built up
13:08this feeling of isolation within the story like these immigrants were literally in the middle of nowhere
13:15and it was very unlikely that anyone was going to you know come and rescue them the movie was made
13:23with a modest budget and that certainly shows but with a subject matter like this
13:32i think that actually works in its favor because as i said it kind of almost felt like a like
13:38this
13:38pseudo documentary of sorts and when the torture started to you know play out very frequently
13:47the it looked or it seemed all too real you know the filmmaker director tanfay mo he would go on
13:56to produce another movie that um i've reviewed on this channel before 1995's black sun the nanking massacre
14:05a movie that um was very compelling depressing and thought-provoking and so um having seen that film
14:15reviewed that and then looking at lost souls you know earlier work of his yeah i could totally see his
14:24uh
14:25his vibe his um his unique kind of outlook on his films when it comes to the performances
14:33as an ensemble cast i have to say that i thought everyone did a brilliant job especially those actors who
14:43played the uh enslaved immigrants now i can only imagine it must have been a very hard shoot for
14:51these guys i mean it's one thing to shoot brutality but you have to obviously take into account that
14:57this was a film so there's rehearsals and there's multiple takes you know different angles different
15:04shots and so i can only imagine um what it must have been like for these guys when i was
15:11watching the
15:12film and seeing it all play out i did think to myself you know these guys are literally most of
15:19the
15:20time completely naked and at something at some point they find some paper and they put it around
15:26them but for the most part they were you know unclothed and i can only imagine i mean i'm hoping
15:32for those
15:32guys for their sake that um the kind of building the barn that they were in it was uh somewhat
15:40warm
15:40because uh yeah i mean hours on end trying to film scenes while you know practically naked that's uh
15:49you know that's not easy this movie was a low budget production like i mentioned earlier so you know
15:57these guys weren't uh hollywood actors these guys weren't um you know well paid were they let's face it so
16:04you know credit where credit's due a lot of these guys um clearly you know put a lot of effort
16:10into
16:11the performances you know got very little out of it so still very commendable if i was going to single
16:18out anyone i guess it would be the actress hung yen who played the character ah sean now she was
16:27a lady
16:27that was what we saw her journey from the very beginning she was imprisoned and i mean she really
16:35impressed me just from her facial expressions it was a very compelling performance that um yeah yeah
16:44she deserves credit for i'm not too familiar with this actress and her work but just looking specifically
16:52at lost souls she yeah she was great she really was and even in a a movie that's you know
16:59an ensemble
17:00cast a lot of characters she did stick out to me and i think that was down to the fact
17:05that when she
17:07was on screen especially in the close-ups that she had this uh this sorrow in her eyes like
17:16this impending doom it was like she knew ultimately deep down she was never gonna survive
17:25you know and it was almost like she was coming to terms with that in real time as we saw
17:31all this
17:32brutality play out yeah that's what it felt like and um even though obviously i i watched this film
17:41with subtitles so i got the the dialogue she stuck out to me because as i said a lot of
17:46her acting was
17:47done through her facial expressions and yeah that really came across to me and so dislikes for lost souls
17:56from 1980 in terms of dislikes honestly there was nothing really egregious that stuck out to me that i really
18:04hated if i was gonna be nitpicking um there were a few fight scenes in the film and just on
18:17a technical
18:17standpoint the punching and kicking sounds they um were very poor quality as i said just just from a
18:28technical standpoint clearly these sounds had been taken from some you know stock library
18:34you know that kind of sound and um for a film that obviously is very heavily based in realism
18:45hearing those very generic um fight punches and kicks and sounds all of that it's um it kind of you
18:54know
18:54took some of the realism away i also wasn't much of a fan of the score as for me it
19:03felt very generic
19:05very paint by numbers now to be honest with you going into the film the soundtrack the score that was
19:13um
19:14something that uh wasn't really on my mind but having now seen the film and you know look look back
19:20and
19:20well i mean seeing seeing so many films like music can be if used right it can be an integral
19:30part
19:31to the story with lost souls it kind of seemed like an afterthought as if you know it was you
19:40know
19:40we'll shoot the movie we'll do everything else and you know just before release i will just tag on some
19:47generic you know music it lacked individuality um and yeah you know it's not a big deal but uh
19:59just to think you know if there was some sort of really interesting introverted score that could
20:05have potentially you know heightened you know the scariness and the brutality even more so you know
20:11potentially a um a missed opportunity so ratings for lost souls from 1980 taking everything into
20:23account i'm going to be rating this movie a 4.5 out of 10 lost souls from 1980 was an
20:34extreme portrayal
20:35of the immigrant experience that highlighted the issue of dehumanization now in the 21st century
20:44we see we have millions of people claiming asylum and unfortunately the asylum system is you know abused
20:54by many unfortunately people coming from countries where they are not being persecuted when it comes to
21:02this movie we go back to the 70s the chinese had had enough of their you know communist government
21:10and they were forced out of their homes that was persecution that i understand that is you know
21:18seeking asylum genuine asylum unlike now where we have so many just taking the piss hopefully that will
21:25change at some point very soon but nevertheless if we break it down i feel sympathy for those
21:32guys you know that had to go through that because ultimately we want people to be safe but we
21:41don't want people to abuse the system and so when it comes to lost souls it definitely raised a genuine
21:47you know awareness of the real life atrocities of you know that time now that i have seen this movie
21:55i will admit that i don't think it has much re-watchability as in like a lot of these exploitation
22:06films i've i've seen and reviewed for this channel
22:11would i watch this again um
22:17maybe it's very dark it's it is depressing i think um
22:23you know watching these films over and over again it could potentially have a you know psychological effect on your
22:28mental health so
22:30i would um you know treat it at arm's length you know um i mean don't get me wrong i'm
22:37very glad i watched it and for anyone out there who's interested in you know hong kong cinema
22:43or you know the exploitation genre this is a title that i would say you should check out because unlike
22:51some exploitation films which are completely like in terms of storyline you know
22:55completely ridiculous this of course was based on real events not one specific event but you know
23:02accounts from you know immigrants and what was actually going on and so with that it is
23:10a significant piece of cinema anyways guys that is all from me today i do hope you've enjoyed this
23:18review of lost souls from 1980 of course i will be back next week with another cult movie review
23:26just in case guys if you haven't please do consider subscribing it really means a lot
23:31and of course take care
23:35you
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