Here's a film that has something to say and says it in the best possible way. You could imagine a lesser filmmaker taking the same script and making a boring message movie out of it, but Drift isn't like that. It engages the viewer with appealing visuals and editing that makes the plot easy to follow and the theme easy to absorb.

Two friends meet up at a swanky restaurant, while outside a homeless man is stuck out in the rain. One of them is sympathetic to the homeless man's plight and sees the possibility of anyone ending up in that situation, while the other friend is dismissive of such a notion. They have a conversation about the nature of chance, and the cynical friend uses the example of a game of Texas Hold'em to argue that we must all play with the hand that's been dealt us, and that homeless people have chosen to stop playing.

The dialogue in this scene is surprisingly deep and well thought out. Director Matthew Chuang and his co-screenwriter, Nicky Wright, don't preach. They give each character's perspective a fair hearing. The filmmakers keep the present-day scenes coolly lit while the flashbacks are bright and sunny, just like in Taylor Hackford's Dolores Claiborne. This is in keeping with the movie's theme about how the past can sometimes destroy the future.

I didn't see the twist ending coming. It sure makes you think, but what I like most about it is that it's only possible to do a twist like that with cinematic language. This is a rich and keenly observed morality tale.