Do you know what mukbanging is? Don’t worry. Neither did I. It is very handy that writer-director Aimee Kuge presumes ignorance, allowing us a moment when two main characters discuss it. I won’t go into any more details here, but it’s most likely a lot tamer and esoteric than anything you might be thinking. It’s certainly a step or two removed from sploshing, which was where my mind went (I will let you search that one online).
What you have here is the story of a young man (Mark, played by Nate Wise) who meets a young woman (Ash, played by April Consalo). A relationship develops, eventually. But as Mark is allowed further into Ash’s world it soon becomes apparent that she’s much more dangerous than she first appears. Well . . . She’s dangerous to the wrong type of men. Can Mark stay on her good side, and will he be able to continue to accept the entirety of her nature?
The directorial debut of Kuge is a fun and interesting little film. It’s hampered by the obvious limitations (reflected in the small core cast and production design that spends as much time trying to disguise environments as it does trying to show elements that reflect the lifestyles of the leads), and some will be disappointed by how relatively tame it is, considering whatever imagery the title evokes, but it’s a dark and amusing look at a relationship where someone is so happy in so many ways that they’re willing to overlook, and even sometimes participate in, one or two behaviours that are socially-unacceptable.
Wise is good in his role, and calls to mind a number of similar actors who I could easily imagine giving similar performances, but the film belongs to Consalo, who generally coveys a loveliness and strength of personality that helps to convince us viewers that she would remain loved by someone who was also starting to see her at her worst (or best, depending on your own attitude towards her actions). Clay von Carlowitz plays the other main character to receive some decent screentime, and he is entertainingly awful throughout.
I wanted to get a bit more from this, in the humour or the horror of it, but I am not really disappointed with how it all turned out. Kuge seems to have known exactly what movie she wanted to present, even if it wasn’t always the film I wanted it to be for every minute, and there’s nothing here that feels as if it falls far short of her specific vision. That makes it a great success.
I am not sure others will enjoy it as much as I did, but I still recommend it nonetheless. Bizarrely, it makes an interesting companion piece to Obsession, which makes me glad that I waited until now to finally get around to watching it.
7/10
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