Beginning with an violent stabbing, Victim(s), which is inspired by a real story, follows one mother as she struggles to cope with the vicious murder of her son. At the same time, we join the mother of the accused, who is also struggling with the prospect of losing her boy, albeit to the judicial system. As both women come to terms with their new normal, secrets about their son’s pasts come to light; secrets that not only test their maternal bonds, but also spin events on their heads.
Victim(s) is a rather bleak viewing prospect. Packed full of triggers around homophobia, sexual assault, and bullying, writer and director Layla Zhuqing leaves no stone unturned in her feature debut. With so many hot button topics on display, it can become a little hard to fully decipher exactly what message she is trying to convey to the audience. Commentary is made on the generational gap between child and parent, particularly on how technology is used, as well as touching upon the failing of the school system in which all the events take place. Then there’s the overarching idea that we’re all victims in some way or another, with Zhuqing highlighting something about almost every main character that shows them in a new light. It’s a bold choice, but when mixed in with all the other messages, it gets a little buried. With such muddled focus, Victim(s) ends up coming off as little more than a slightly grittier teen drama in the vein of 13 Reasons Why.
The confusion over what message is actually trying to be conveyed aside, Victim(s) does draw the viewer in, although it’s the middle section with the teens themselves that really captures us. The young cast all do fantastic work; Xianjun Fu and Kahoe Hon are especially good as Chen and Gangzi respectively. Their roles each have a duality, which enables a shifting interplay between them where the part of tormentor and tormented switches back and forth. Teen roles are scarcely so complex, often sticking to more black and white characters. By creating such a grey area, Fu and Hon are allowed plenty of space to create their characters. Wilson Hsu, who plays newcomer Qianmo and finds herself mixed up with both boys, is great, though her role is arguably the one that firmly remains in the victim arena, making her the more sympathetic character of the story.
With so much bleakness on display from the opening moments, Victim(s) is a gruelling and uncomfortable watch. This is a drama with bullying and vitriol at its core; Victim(s) may follow the obvious routes, but does so with surprisingly effective results. Throwing every teen hot button in, does feel a tad overloaded, but it’s an understandable and forgivable misstep for a feature debut. Once Zhuqing gets the hang of parring back certain elements, her intended messages will no doubt be conveyed with much better clarity.
Victims was reviewed at Glasgow Film Festival 2021.
Victim(s)
Summary
A bleak, but relatively routine, exploration of the mantra that there are two sides to every story.
