Terry Chiu is an incredibly ionate and humble independent director; Open Doom Crescendo is a film I aspire to make.

In its DIY production, the film is capable of creating feelings and displaying emotion in ways Hollywood could never replicate. It has a similar charm to Sam Raimi's The Evil Dead, mixed with the endearment of Joel Haver's films. The latter have full improvisation, but also don't exclude moments of the crew/actors seeping in with "fourth wall breaks", for lack of a better term.

The style and ambitious scale most reminded me of The Daniels' Everything Everywhere All At Once. They both employ a specific way (one I'm not sure how to put into words) of getting the audience to suspend their disbelief and accept not just the rules of the film, but the rules/limitations of the filmmaking itself.

While I use the word "limitations", it works as a key creative force driving the film; the DIY filmmaking. When an artist is limited by their toolset, they're forced to be infinitely more creative. This was an idea pushed in the DOGME 95 movement, which included the incredible film The Celebration from Thomas Vinterberg.

In the Q&A, Terry explained his approach to structuring the film: It was to be formed similar to an album, citing Pink Floyd's Meddle as an inspiration/comparison. The final song of the album is Echos and stands tall at 23 minutes 32 seconds. During Echos we get a glimpse into how Terry ticks.

(p.s. Terry if you read this I'm currently listening to the album while writing this)

The song doesn't abide by normal conventions (obviously) and is a journey that flows from moment to moment. Echos will totally change up its tempo or instrumental focus on a dime after a crescendo (ha) for the sake of creating art that makes you feel something totally unique.

For a more direct comparison, Echos has a break midway through that possesses only disturbing screeches, ambience and whaling sounds that would most definitely not "fit in" with a traditional rock song. Right after this, the song delves into one of the best compositions in Pink Floyd's whole discography. I can't spoil it, but this film does something akin to this and it works VERY well.

Similar to how Pink Floyd's songs are produced, the filmmaking in Open Doom Crescendo has lots of layers to be discovered in, what could be seen as, surface level elements. The biggest example would be in the use of subtitles. The film has both English and Cantonese that have their own gags each. Like many foreign films that are translated, there are subtleties and wordplay that are unable to be replicated through English. So Terry chooses to keep the original dialogue within the Cantonese subtitles and include some jokes for the English audience, such as playing into a character's lisp.

I may have had a good way to tie this all together in a great conclusion 20 minutes ago, but that's long forgotten due to my memory issues so I'll wrap up with this:
If you ever get the opportunity to see this film, I STRONGLY recommend it. Terry, the cast and the crew deserve . Especially when it's something this original and creative!