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Fantasia Film Review: Baby, Don’t Cry (2021) Jesse Dvorak

Scripted, acted and designed by Chinese immigrant , “Baby, Don't Cry” is a different coming-of-age film that focuses on the marginalized of Seattle, without necessarily providing a message of hope, in an approach that allows it to stand as far out from the plethora of sugar-coated, romantic teenage films as possible.

“Baby Don't Cry” is screening at Fantasia International Film Festival

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Baby is a 17-year-old Chinese immigrant who dreams of becoming a filmmaker one day and moving to Los Angeles. However, her life is not exactly paving her way, since she is completely marginalized in school, her mother seems to suffer from some sort of mental illness, which frequently makes her abusive towards her daughter, while she also has to clean houses in order to make a living. Her only solace is constantly recording with her phone everything she finds interesting, a fixation on dead things, and occasionally the world of dreams. Eventually, she meets a 20-year-old delinquent named Fox, and a rather intense, passive-aggressive relationship begins between the two, which frequently becomes rather toxic. Eventually, the two embark on a trip, which does not seem to lead particularly somewhere, except towards violence.

directs a film that is a mixed bag, with both the pros and the cons found aplenty. To start with the latter, the most annoying element in the movie is the sound design, with the volume of dialogues going up and down repeatedly, particularly in the exterior scenes, and the same applying to the music and sound overall. Furthermore, the way the difference between reality and Baby's thoughts is communicated is also filled with faults, with the editing not helping at all in that regard. The fact that Baby's mother is presented with a look that resembles a pig, including pointy ears, does not work at all for the narrative, while the acting, with the exception of the protagonist and on occasion, of who plays Fox, is subpar. Lastly, a number of the protagonists' actions seem completely unjustified, although their overall mental state could be perceived as the reason for their irrationality.

The aforementioned, however, do not mean that the movie is void of merits. Zita Bai gives an impressive performance, with her silences being as eloquent as her actions and the moments she speaks, communicating her frustration, resolve, lust, happiness and hopelessness quite convincingly. Additionally, the comments the film presents are brutally realistic, with Dvorak and Bai highlighting the fact that there are lives that are, essentially, hopeless, and not due to the decisions or actions of the people living them. That the actions of the parents have tremendous impact on their children is also well communicated, with the abuse Baby receives at home essentially explaining why she decides to succumb to an exploitative, dead-end relationship, although the way the movie presents it could be perceived as somewhat offensive to women. Lastly, the racism Asians and Asian-Americans have to face is also well depicted, particularly since, on occasion, even the people who seem to like Baby exhibit such behaviours.

Adam Leene's cinematography also has its moments, especially in the road-trip aspect of the movie, with a number of interesting frames and images, with the sex scenes in particular being quite artful, while the marriage montage is one of the best moments in the film, also due to the editing in the particular part.

“Baby, Don't Cry” suffers cinematically on a number of aspects, but definitely deserves a watch, particularly for Zita Bai's ideas and her acting

About the author

Panos Kotzathanasis

My name is Panos Kotzathanasis and I am Greek. Being a fan of Asian cinema and especially of Chinese kung fu and Japanese samurai movies since I was a little kid, I cultivated that love during my adolescence, to extend to the whole of SE Asia.

Starting from my own blog in Greek, I then moved on to write for some of the major publications in Greece, and in a number of websites dealing with (Asian) cinema, such as Taste of Cinema, Hancinema, EasternKicks, Chinese Policy Institute, and of course, Asian Movie Pulse. in which I still continue to contribute.

In the beginning of 2017, I launched my own website, Asian Film Vault, which I merged in 2018 with Asian Movie Pulse, creating the most complete website about the Asian movie industry, as it deals with almost every country from East and South Asia, and definitely all genres.

You can follow me on Facebook and Twitter.

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