Invisible Waves cover art

Invisible Waves Details

2006 Certificate 15
  • Rated:
  • 60
  • from 185 members

After inadvertently killing his girlfriend, a man (Asano) flees Macau for Thailand in an attempt to cope with his guilt, and avoid possible arrest. But the relocation doesn't prevent his problems from following him, as his new friends could be potential enemies. Read more

Starring Tadanobu Asano, Hye-jeong Kang, Hye-Jeong Kang, Eric Tsang
Director Pen-Ek Ratanaruang
Genres Drama, Thriller, World Cinema

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Invisible Waves

After inadvertently killing his girlfriend, a man (Asano) flees Macau for Thailand in an attempt to cope with his guilt, and avoid possible arrest. But the relocation doesn't prevent his problems from following him, as his new friends could be potential enemies.

Starring Tadanobu Asano, Hye-jeong Kang, Hye-Jeong Kang, Eric Tsang, Maria Cordero, Toon Hiranyasap, Ken Mitsuishi
Director Pen-Ek Ratanaruang
Studio PALISADES TARTAN
Run time DVD: 1 hr 55 mins
Certificate Certificate 15
Genres Drama, Thriller, World Cinema
Language DVD: Thai, Japanese, Korean
Subtitles DVD: English
Released DVD: 12 Nov 2007
Production year: 2006
Format DVD
  • Critics' reviews of Invisible Waves

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  • The latest from the director of Monrak Transistor and Last Life in the Universe has been described as a... read more on Time Out

    • Time Out
  • Most helpful member's review of Invisible Waves

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  • 9 out of 9 people found this review helpful

    Rated - 5 stars

    Not an invisible director

    This film, like it's prequel 'Last Life in the Universe', has an almost invisible actor at its heart. Asano Tadanobu kills his boss's girlfriend. We don't see him kill her but we know he will. How? We see his face as they are dirnking. We see him give her a glass of wine. We see him looking at a knife then hiding it. He doesn't look evil or demented or any of the things we are supposed to look out for in bad guys, and we are confused as to why he's going to kill her. There you go.

    We find out, in a way, at the end when why's are no longer important.

    What you find inbetween the confusion is a film of blood and foriegn airports, of phone calls and either no-one or everyone speaking your langauge. Asano travells south east Asia, on the instructions of someone else. Who? we're not sure, but we let the movie work it out at its own pace. Travelling with these guys is enthralling.

    The director suggests a kind of permanent paranoia in the sounds and images of this film, boat sounds creating more tension that a hundred CGI violins. Around every corner you expect a ghost, or gangster or a beautiful girl to appear.

    It's that kind of movie. A movie which lets you think, imagine and feel inside the tone of the film. Which is exactly why Asano works in this (and 'Last Life'). I heard it said that he's part of a Japanese tradition of actors who practise internalising their emotions, until they show near-nothing, and through that comes the performance.

    It's a mysterious one this, take a breath.

      • A customer from Leicester
  • Most recent members' review of Invisible Waves

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  • 6 out of 7 people found this review helpful

    Rated - 0 stars

    Ouch this film was painfully boring

    I have not seen such a slow and tedious film in my whole life to my recollection, and I've seen a lot. One scene shows a man walking down steps and takes a full 2 minutes to get to the bottom (the relevance - none other than he is now at the bottom of the steps). It was so unnesessarily slow it was unbelievable. Some may call that art - I call that boring.

    If the film was a short film, lasting 30 minutes, the plot would have carried it, by dragging it out to a full 13/4 hours it was beyond hope. Please Please don't waste your time, the ending really isn't worth the wait.

      • A customer from Cardiff
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Rating breakdown

185 Member ratings
  • 100
10
  • 90
5
  • 80
22
  • 70
38
  • 60
48
  • 50
17
  • 40
17
  • 30
6
  • 20
12
  • 10
10

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    • Invisible Waves
      After inadvertently killing his girlfriend, a man (Asano) flees Macau for Thailand in an attempt to cope with his guilt, and avoid possible arrest. But the relocation doesn't prevent his problems from following him, as his new friends could be potential enemies....