This fiery Cannes title challenges the #MeToo movement’s popular discourse with a confronting and complicated tale of consent and abuse, based on its lead actress’ own experiences in the movie industry.
Nina Wu comes at a perfect moment, hot on the heels of the #MeToo movement… Its tale of power, control, and the male gaze is a provocative critique of how we got to this point.
Screened as part of NZIFF 2019
Nina Wu 2019
Zhuo ren mi mi
An actress loses her grip on reality shooting the film that will make her a star in Midi Z’s uncompromising, noirish #MeToo-inspired tale.
Nina Wu was written by its luminous star [Wu Ke-xi], inspired by her own experiences as a young actress and by the Harvey Weinstein scandal – much of which happened in plush hotel rooms not far from the Cannes theater where this Un Certain Regard title had its debut. And as the first directly #MeToo-related narrative to play in this context, it is a deeply challenging one… as it resists, even contradicts the simplification of its central act of violation into an obviously empowering, triumph-over-adversity arc. One of the basic tenets of #MeToo is that we listen to women; but what if they do not say exactly what #MeToo needs to hear?...
Z and Wu Kexi’s bravery in refusing to neaten and de-clutter an impossibly untidy issue should not be underestimated… When this story finally resolves, it is not on an uplifting ‘the truth will set you free’ note… [but with] a more difficult question about these experiences than we are perhaps ready to hear: When the world tells you you have nothing to be ashamed of (because you don’t), what do you do with all the shame?” — Jessica Kiang, Variety