Zoom Hunting
猎艳
Taiwan, 2010, colour, 1.85, 86 mins.
Director: Zhuo Li 卓立.
Rating: 5/10.
Slickly shot drama of a photographer snapping a possible murder is flawed by an awkward script.
STORY
Taibei, the present day. Fashion photographer Yang Ruyi (Zhang Junning), 32, shares an upstairs flat with her sister, crime novelist Yang Ruxing (Zhu Zhiying), 33, in a quiet neighbourhood. By chance, Yang Ruyi snaps an apartment window opposite, where a man (Wen Shenghao) and a woman (Zhou Hengyin) are making love. Intrigued, Yang Ruyi does some detective work and discovers they’re both married and having an affaire. Yang Ruxing, who has writer’s block and is behind deadline on her latest book, uses Yang Ruyi’s pictures for inspiration, incorporating the story into her novel, Zoom Hunting. But when Yang Ruyi later thinks the man has been murdered after a lovers’ quarrel, she suspects her sister may be involved in the drama.
REVIEW
The first 20 minutes of Zoom Hunting 猎艳 raise hopes that this first feature by producer-turned-director Zhuo Li 卓立 is going to deliver as a classy mystery-drama, a genre long gone missing in Taiwan cinema. The graceful, mobile camerawork of Hong Kong d.p. Guan Benliang 关本良 [Kwan Pun-leung], the misterioso major-minor score by Zheng Weijie 郑伟杰, and the Rear Window-like setup with its theme of voyeurism as a spur to creativity (one sister is a photographer, the other a crime novelist) – all announce that Zhuo is in Brian De Palma territory. Early scenes of the quiet backstreet neighbourhood and shots of Taibei (cloudscapes, cityscapes) establish a strong sense of place and shifting time, as the lines between fact and fiction are blurred. And the performance of Zhang Junning 张钧宁 (Holiday Dreaming 梦游夏威夷, 2004; Silk 诡丝, 2006) as the capricious photographer fits the mood.
But then Zoom Hunting starts to slip out of focus, with small defects turning into major craters. Rather than sweeping the viewer along on its own terms, every now and then the script by Yang Yuanling 杨元铃 and Zhuo stops to explain what’s going on in awkwardly written scenes between the sisters; the plot contrivances are piled on with a heavy hand in the latter half; and the cross-cutting between the various strands becomes needlessly confusing, a stylistic device more for its own sake than for that of the film. Laudably, Zhuo wants to make a slick genre movie; but she doesn’t seem to realise that genre movies have rules too. Small niggles – like the script taking 25 minutes even to identify one of the sisters by name, or unmatching background shots between the two opposite buildings – undercut the all-important suspension of disbelief. Most disappointingly, the movie has no sense of escalating tension, and no action pay-off at its climax.
Zhang, 27, is fine as the spontaneous younger sister. But for a film that’s essentially a two-hander, the performance by Zhu Zhiying 朱芷莹, also 27, as the novelist is too blank and unnuanced, especially as her role assumes growing importance. The audience is told the women are sisters, but they seem more like two women who happen to be sharing a flat: there’s no sense of any deep sororial bond, which robs the film of emotional underpinning. For non-Chinese viewers, the English subtitles, though okay, could be improved.
CREDITS
Presented by Ocean Deep Films (TW). Produced by Ocean Deep Films (TW).
Script: Yang Yuanling, Zhuo Li. Photography: Guan Benliang [Kwan Pun-leung]. Editing: Zhang Jiahui [Cheung Ka-fai]. Music: Zheng Weijie. Art direction: Cai Peiling. Costumes: Sun Huimei. Sound: Du Duzhi, Tang Xiangzhu, Guo Liqi. Visual effects: Yang Weizhi (Coolframes Digiworks). Zoom Hunting novel: Wu Nunu, Xia Pei’er [Monica & Shaballe].
Cast: Zhang Junning (Yang Ruyi), Zhu Zhiying (Yang Ruxing), Wen Shenghao (Fang), Zhou Hengyin (Fang’s lover), Yang Yahui [Michelle Krusiec] (Fang’s wife), Jin Shijie (concierge), Gao Jie [Jack Kao] (editor), Huang Jianwei (policeman), Guang Fengnan (Le), Lin Dahua (Fang’s lover’s husband), Tang Yongxu (Fang’s lover’s daughter), Lv Shaoqi (Fang’s son), Zhang Binglin (doctor), Su Fuyu (second policeman), Lv Gengxian (scooter driver), Li Yufang (kindergarten teacher), Wu Liqiu, Liu Huiren (tenants), Su Guanhua, Liao Bingyi, Zhang Shimin (Le’s assistants), Li Qinglan, Chen Zihua (nurses), Tian Xiaoci, Liu Zilong, Lan Xueru, Liang Yihuai (models), Zheng Renjie, Lin Youfang (breakfast-shop owners), Li Jiayan (their assistant).
Release: Taiwan, 16 Apr 2010.
(Review originally published on Film Business Asia, 5 Jul 2010.)