The issues the imprudent use of the web has caused have been a rather prevalent theme in Asian cinema during the latest years. Gwai Lou explores the theme by showing its impact on kids, and particularly where the constant search for Internet fame and the money occasionally involved can lead to.
Bugs is screening at New York Asian Film Festival
The film begins in a rural area, where two kids, Syed and Rkasim, place bugs inside a jar and then making them explode with some kind of explosive stick, while recoding the whole thing on the latter's phone and broadcasting it live on the web. Syed even proceeds on messing with the remains with a stick, with the close up looking particularly disgusting.
Syed states that he wants to buy an Iphone and stream his lie 24/7, but Rkasim tells him his father will not let him. It seems the place they are roaming in is a kind of waste dump, where mostly destroyed cars are to be found but their walk then brings them close to the part of the area where their houses are located. Once more loaning the phone from his father, Rkasim and Syed go back to the dump a bit later, with the latter this time having taken with him a decrepit machete from his house, probably owned by his father. The streaming continues with him destroying various objects with his newfound weapon, but eventually he cuts himself. It seems, however, that this brings more audience to the video, who eventually even offer him money to do it again
Gwai Lou, (nickname for a male director from Spain actually) essentially presents a cautionary tale about the aforementioned concept, highlighting how dangerous it can be, particularly for kids such as Syed, who seems to be both poor and lacking any kind of guidance from his parents, with the same actually applying to Rkasim. In such circumstances, it is easy for a kid who suddenly finds himself being popular, with thousands checking his live streams, and essentially rich, not finding a way to stop, with the filmmaker presenting the consequences in all their grotesqueness, as the boy is willing to injure himself severely to get more of both. In that fashion, his message becomes quite pointed, but at the same time, equally realistic, with the combination definitely having an impact on any viewer, both visually and contextually. The fact that as soon as Syed gets his “break” he proceeds on misbehaving towards his friend, who was willing to follow him anywhere practically, also moves in the same direction, cementing the message.
The cinematography here is also quite good, capturing the rural setting with artistry and realism, and the events with a very fitting grotesqueness, that is also realistic though, while adding an element of shock in the short that definitely works for the narrative.
Muhammad Ikhliel Amree and Syahmi Rafiq in the protagonist roles give naturalistic performances, probably being shot in the actual area they live in, with the first in particular, having a difficult role he portrays in flying colors.
“Bugs” is a rather well-shot short, that manages to get its messages through in eloquence, while “forcing” its audience to question access to modern technology.
