Baby Don't Cry

Original title:	Baby Don't Cry
Director:	Jesse Dvorak
Release:	Cinema
Running time:	90 minutes
Release date:	Not communicated
Rating:

Baby (Bai), a Chinese immigrant living in suburban Seattle, makes sense of her difficult home life and feelings of exclusion through her homemade indie films and animalistic worldviews. When she meets Fox (Vas Provatakis), an inner-city thug with a knack for making bad decisions, a whirlwind of intensity, ferocity and sexuality engulfs them both. Oscillating between Baby's fantastical visions and Fox's punk rock philosophy, the couple plunges headlong into an explosive love affair. While trying to cope with the traumas of their past and their unpromising future, the two lovers struggle to make their relationship work, which already seems doomed to failure.

Mulder's Review

It is very curious to discover in a festival that celebrates the genre film a film like Baby that would have clearly had more its place as a festival like Sundance or as the festival of American cinema of Deauville so much this one resembles a dramatic comedy reflecting our current society. We can easily understand the will of the writer and actress Zita Bai to build a custom-made role that resonates in a personal way for her, but this first film cruelly lacks piquancy and rhythm.

Add to that the fact that a film dealing with the difficult integration of Chinese people in the United States is really not the time. Already we try to forget that China is the cause of this worldwide pandemic linked to Covid 19 but especially the unforgivable attitude of the current Chinese government leads the spectators to prefer not to think about this current situation and to continue to find a semblance of normal life.

We can only defend these Chinese immigrants who have arrived in the United States and are fleeing an authoritarian and nauseating regime that does not respect human rights (and even less so women's rights) and does everything to cover up the facts or even defend abject causes like the Taliban in Afghanistan. Baby Don't Cry is not a good film as it is so disjointed and quickly turns empty to the point of becoming really boring but it starts on an interesting premise.

Baby (Zita Bai) is a 17 year old Chinese immigrant, withdrawn and sensitive, from a troubled home, living in the suburbs of Seattle. One day, she meets a 20-year-old delinquent named Fox (Vas Provatakis) who has veiled his camera from her. Together, they embark on a tortuous journey to escape their hopeless fate and try to build a real relationship. This impossible love will not only lead Baby to rethink his priorities but also to confront his mother. Such a story could have made for an interesting comedy-drama if the dialogues had sounded right and the direction really inspired. Between the endless scenes, the lack of cohesion in the editing and the deadly boredom that this film creates, we can only advise you not to watch it in order not to waste your time unnecessarily as we did.

Baby Don't Cry
Directed by Jesse Dvorak
Produced by Zeron Zhao, Qiyu Zhou
Written by Zita Bai
Starring Zita Bai, Boni Mata, Vas Provatakis, Helen Sun
Music by Dimitris Mann
Cinematography: Adam Leene
Edited by Qing Shao, Skylar Zhang
Production companies : Mad Hound Productions LLC
Release date : August 11, 2021 (Fantasia)
Running time : 90 minutes

Seen on July 28, 2021 (fantasia press screener)

Mulder's Mark: