A Month Of Hungry Ghosts

Times Watched: 1
Watched With: Nobody @ GV Cinema Europa (16/08)
Snacks: None

Every year during the 7th month of the Chinese lunar calendar, many people believe that spirits and ghosts of ancestors walk the earth.
The gates of Hell open and the spirits walk with the living who try their best to appease them by making offerings.

Director Tony Kern tries to shed some light on the rituals and somewhat old-fashioned traditions surrounding what we know know as 'The Hungry Ghosts Month' and we see the stories unfolding through first-hand personal accounts of people like a Taoist medium, a getai organizer and even an old-fashioned lady who believes that tradition is slowly dying.

I guess a lot of people came into the theater either not knowing it was a documentary or expecting it to be more of a 'shockumentary'.
But i can tell you this - about a quarter of the cinema walked about at the half-way mark (which is about 1hr into the movie).

This documentary manages to show the spirit (pardon the pun) of the Hungry Ghosts Festival and even sheds some light on some things you might not have known or might have had some cloudy doubts over.
But it tends to get very very draggy at times. (VERY)
Things tend to pick up towards the end (like footage of a medium getting possessed and stories of previous mishaps during previous festivals) but overall not good enough.

This may have been a documentary but it was one of those sucky ones.
You'd expect to be watching this on the Discovery Channel instead of in the cinema (maybe it was so bad no cable channel wanted to snap it up?)

Well it was quite okay but very disappointing.
If that makes any sense at all.

Final Verdict: