Following the excellent “A Land Imagined” that netted him a Golden Leopard from Locarno among other awards, Yeo Siew Hua has come up with a new movie that also attempts to stretch the conventions of genre filmmaking by incorporating intense art-house elements in it.
Stranger Eyes is screening at Vesoul International Film Festival of Asian Cinemas
The film throws the viewer directly into what is happening, as we witness a couple, Junyang and Peiying, whose baby has been missing for months, checking old home videos. The next scene with a video though, is a completely different thing, as a DVD that arrived at their apartment shows recordings of them that they have not shot themselves. More DVDs arrive, portraying more and more intimate moments of the couple, with the two, and the ever-present Shuping, Junyang’s mother, eventually going to the police, where officer Zheng suggests patience and installing cameras in the apartment complex the couple lives in. The result is that they identify a neighbor, Lao Wu, as the perpetrator, but the baby kidnapping instead gets more complicated. In the meantime, the focus changes towards the ‘guilty one’.
The comment here evidently revolves around the concept of seeing, although Yeo Siew Hua truly delves quite deeper than what we usually see from filmmakers dealing with the concept. The concept of voyeurism is the most evident one, but he definitely does not stop there. The meta approach, for example, emerges as rather intriguing. Usually, as viewers, we watch what is happening on the screen from our point of view, which is essentially what the DP and the director see when they are shooting the movie. In the case of “Stranger Eyes” though, this perspective is ‘twisted’ in what the protagonists actually see, in an approach that emerges as rather intelligent, particularly as it adds to the overall atmosphere of creepiness that permeates the movie.
That the setting is Singapore, a country so small, so crowded, and so filled with cameras that essentially no one ever goes unwatched, as the words and the overall mentality of officer Zheng eloquently highlight, adds another level to the concept, with more sociopolitical connotations. That people act their weirdest and most unique one could say, when they feel they are not being watched, also emerges here. Lastly, the appeal of looking at people when they do not realize it, cements the depth of this aspect, whose presentation in this movie we could talk about for many more pages.
That the majority of characters have a kind of a secret life, away from the eyes of the people closest to them, connects the concept with the characterization, allowing Yeo to portray essentially all of them in ‘greyish’ terms. Granted, Junyang moves a bit too far on occasion, but in the end, he still emerges as a character who draws sympathy, particularly due to his fate, and at least to a point. That the women in general are presented in kinder lights than the men could also be perceived as a comment, although Yeo does not go very far in that direction. On a more general comment, Yeo seems to slam on the concept of family, which is presented as a burden more than anything, throughout the movie.
The aforementioned benefit the most by the casting and acting. Wu Chien-Ho as Junyang plays the confused to the point of stupefied young man excellently, with his actions instead of words highlighting his mentality in the best fashion. Lee Kang-shen as Lao Wu plays a similar character, who does emerge as more creepy however, although he also has his own reasons. Anicca Panna as Peiying seems to be the more vocal in her frustration, and is also convincing in the part. Vera Chen as Shuping plays the nosy mother-in-law to the T, while Pete Teo as Officer Zheng adds to the general uncanniness that characterizes all the protagonists in show-stealing fashion.
Expectedly, Hideho Murata’s cinematography emerges as perhaps the most crucial element here, and it is easy to say that his work is impervious, essentially dictating all other aspects of the film. Jean Christophe Bouzy’s editing results in a slow pace that definitely adds to the imposing atmosphere that dominates the film. At the same time, it plays, through the rhythm and the overall placement of the timelines, on another key element here, that “Stranger Eyes” is actually not about the kidnapping at all.
“Stranger Eyes” does leave the viewer with a sense of unfulfillment, but the intelligence of the director, the way he presents his comments, the cinematography and the acting make it a movie that definitely deserves a watch for both its originality and its quality.
