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.
Nina Wu 2019
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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