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 (image 1)](/assets/resized/sm/upload/2o/lx/h5/ip/thumb_65416_media_image_2560x1620%20KEY-2000-2000-1125-1125-crop-fill.jpg?k=53cc3cb31f)
![Nina Wu (image 2)](/assets/resized/sm/upload/re/hc/dl/ob/thumb_65235_film_film_2560x1103-2000-2000-1125-1125-crop-fill.jpg?k=5a098a32e2)
![Nina Wu (image 3)](/assets/resized/sm/upload/ri/dw/4z/xw/thumb_65234_film_film_2560x1103-2000-2000-1125-1125-crop-fill.jpg?k=1bbb87fa11)
![Nina Wu (image 4)](/assets/resized/sm/upload/p0/ue/fi/es/thumb_65233_film_film_2560x1103-2000-2000-1125-1125-crop-fill.jpg?k=438c25fcc3)
![Nina Wu (image 5)](/assets/resized/sm/upload/l8/y9/ls/ny/thumb_65231_film_film_2560x1103-2000-2000-1125-1125-crop-fill.jpg?k=d779cbc012)
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
Zhuo ren mi mi
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