Review of Moss (2010) by Lane Z — 09 Jan 2013

Being a big fan of Korean cinema I'm pre-disposed to expect nothing less than excellence from everything coming out of their studios. Yea, it's unfair. It is, however, the highest compliment I can offer. That said, 'Moss' is kind of a mess.

An overlong movie, 'Moss' took two sittings and a case of completion obligation to soldier though. As Roger Ebert once said, "No good movie is too long, no bad movie is short enough." And being an artist-for-hire I'm sympathetic to the question Mozart poses in response to his patron's editing request in 'Amadeus': "What notes should I cut?".

Well, 'Moss' is not Don Giovanni. It wasn't built by connecting multiple strokes of genius into an unassailable masterpiece. It's a smallish idea of a mystery told in a puffed-up, convoluted manner to suggest that there's more here than there actually is. This may be read by some as "twisty". I found it a ponderous Rashomon-style misfire. A good example of how this film suffers (and didn't have to) can be found in one of the resolution scenes at the end.

Two characters - who, for the entire film, have been at odds with each other - finally find common purpose. One or two lines of dialogue quickly establish that the bad blood is behind them and they've made peace. We, the viewer, get it. Nicely done. But NO! The director insists on an extended conversation beyond this point of understanding, whereupon one character says, "You're ok. We should have lunch. You're a good guy...", and so on. Such scenes read like notes the director made to himself to underscore character relationships, and then forgot to cut in the final edit. It could be misconstrued by the viewer as insulting to one's intelligence but it just feels like poor editing.

Because 'Moss' is filled with overwrought scenes (some unintentionally comical like the above exchange), the eventual reveal feels way too little way too late. The power of the crime and cover-up at the heart of the story needed to have the weight to reward the viewer's commitment and justify the oh-so-important atmosphere of everything that preceded its explanation. By that point you just won't care.