BA
A Review By Aaron Barrocas
Mild Spoilers.


Ba



Having a child makes you fear death more than ever before. You just can’t imagine what might happen to this vulnerable, sweet little person who loves you if you’re not there to help, to protect, to soothe, and to pretend to make sense of a world that is so much scarier and more dangerous than we ever want to admit.

With this in mind, Ba is brutally unfair. I didn’t expect to write a review saying “here’s a horror movie that will make you cry” – but here we are. If you’re a parent, you’ll probably cry. I did. Then I told my wife about it. Didn’t even show her the movie. Just relayed the story beat-by-beat. She cried too. We’re not cryers. Maybe I am a little bit, but my wife was born in the former Soviet Union and eats broken glass for breakfast.

All that being said – I loved Ba. The core concept isn’t entirely original, but the execution is. A loving single father and his daughter are facing poverty, and the father is tempted/swindled into taking the position of Death – the Grim Reaper.

As mentioned, this has been done many times in many ways – read Christopher Moore’s book “A Dirty Job” for a clever take on the idea. In Ba’s case, Daniel, our tortured hero (Lawrence Kao), looks like a frightening mask of Death to the rest of the world – including to his daughter, Collette (Kai Cech). These two very likeable actors team up to spend 79 minutes just straight out hurting us over and over again.

Anything Daniel touches dies – and that would include Collette. Until he can find his way out of this very unfair arrangement, he has to keep a physical distance from her. He gives her a place to live, and all of the essentials, but she is eight years old. More than anything else, she needs a parent, and he’s absent.

At an earlier point in his life, Daniel was a promising young dancer, and an injury robbed him of his livelihood and his future. As he drives through LA with his Collette, their car filled with their possessions, not knowing where they will live, it doesn’t seem that he can go much lower. He is offered - and accepts - what seems like a way out: a ton of cash. He learns the terms of the loan much too late. He might have to spend years as Death repaying the debt, and in that time, he will have lost the chance to raise his daughter. The analogy to the poverty cycle as a whole is strong and heartwrenching. A parent is offered a predatory loan that he has almost no choice other than to accept, but now he and his child will suffer the consequences of spending life owing a cruel, powerful debtor.

Each life Daniel takes earns him one token, which he must turn over to a collector, or face potentially horrific consequences. So he does a job, receives a token, hands it over, starts over. It’s reminiscent of a hand-to-mouth lifestyle. He visits Collette between jobs, wrapped up head to toe so she can’t see the monstrosity that he is, and doesn’t allow her to hug him. But he’s not able to be the father that Collette needs him to be, and soon Daniel must face the reality that he might have to say goodbye to her, for her own good, and let somebody else raise her.

The story is told in the city’s underworld – cheap motels, run-down convenience stores, empty, threatening night streets. The types of places that some people visit regularly, and others can go their whole lives without ever seeing. So when Collette spends time with a middle-class suburban family (I’m working hard to minimize the spoiling on this one), the contrast in the life offered is very clear. Although a very stern point is made that image isn’t everything, and money doesn’t necessarily mean safety.

In addition to our two leads, there are some very memorable supporting characters. Shelli Boone plays Macey, a well-meaning Child Protective Services representative who (accurately) views Daniel’s absence as problematic parenting. We could have viewed her as an enemy – a threat to our hero’s goals – and she does certainly represent a major complication for Daniel. But because of the film’s carefully managed overall tone, and Boone’s wise character choices, we see a caring person who is operating out of decency. The other role is Daniel’s longtime friend Sonny, played by Michael Paul Chan, who you might recognize from Spy Game, the Goonies, Falling Down, Alien Nation, and a multitude of TV appearances. Sonny has extremely limited vision, so Daniel can truly be himself in Sonny’s presence without concern that Sonny will see his hideous visage.

This supernatural tale may have more heart than it does horror, but the scares are there, and the ghastly images will stick with you. Cinematographer Mingjue Hu captures the tale in a constant series of gorgeously lit, worth-a-thousand-words pictures showcasing the underworld of the city, society, and at times even hints of The Underworld itself.

Ba is currently playing at Film Festivals all over the country, and has already screened at FilmQuest, Nightmares, Screamfest, and Austin Film Festival. If you’re able to, catch it on a screen, with an audience. So you won’t feel as stupid as I did crying in my little home office.

Aaron Barrocas is an award-winning screenwriter, filmmaker, and editor living in Los Angeles. He has spent the past 25 years as an active part of the entertainment industry.
AaronBarrocas.com