The plot concerns two couples, one of which contains an overbearing husband and a throw-rug of a wife, the other a wacky, spontaneous, thrill-seeking couple of suckers for excitement. The first couple takes a vacation to Los Angeles, where the second couple lives, and find themselves kidnapped. Unraveling throughout the film is the history of these two couples and the consequences of the second's thrill-seeking behavior. An inspired subplot between one of the wives (Leah Allers) and her doctor (the film's best actor, Fred Ochs) turns Bressonian, although it really never goes beyond the point of being a momentary lapse in the forward momentum of the picture.
As a filmmaker, Chu is of the school that lives by the idea that redundancies can be telling; at times he has characters repeat the same sentence with different wording as many as three times without any real variance in tone or meaning. When Chu forgets about moving the plot along the dialogue reflects this as it takes on a life of its own and it's in these moments where the characters speak in their own vernacular that he shows a flare for conversation. Influences range from Hitchcock to Ozu to the new wave of horror, the Saws and Hostels without the torture porn aspect. The film works best when it's allowed to meander off course, little excursions into the real lives of the characters beyond their archetypal designs give them a depth that is only hinted at during other portions.
Not a bad film, but an ineffective one, Captives shows the potential for goodness, without itself being particularly good. Chu has no reason to be ashamed of this effort, but it will obviously be a few more runs around the track before he crafts anything of real value. Still, he may be worth keeping an eye on.
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