Saturday, November 1, 2014

Watch: Park Chan-wook's 'A Rose Reborn'

As a big fan of Park Chan-wook, I am always excited to see new works by him whether it is features or shorts. And this time, we get all the ingenuity of Park but in a pint-size in a A Rose Reborn, a short film in promotion for an Italian fashion company, Zegna starring Jack Hudson (Boardwalk Empire) and Daniel Wu (Europa Report, Warcraft). The short introduces us to a young CEO who travels across the globe to meet a Chinese investor but stumbles upon a number of riddles and other odd exchanges before they can reach a deal.

A Rose Reborn is filled with many Park trademarks of vivid and dark cinematography that is filled with a number of chilling and mysterious quirks which eventually transforms the tone to highlight the magically beautiful philosophical contemplation on life. I've only seen one other short film by Park called Nightfishing and this is another rare film that never ceases to amaze in his never-ending ability to tell dense and thoughtful stories that encompass the universal story of the human experience. It was a great move by Zegna to have Park concoct a unique and global story about the journey of discovery and growth that also emphasizes the lifestyle of fashion.