-Written by Kyle Bain.
2024 TRIBECA FILM FESTIVAL REVIEW!
When Eva (Kahyun Kim) accidentally shoots her fiance on a family hunting trip chaos ensues. Eva and her parents must determine what the next step is. Do they alert the authorities? Do they bury the body? This is A Family Guide to Hunting, try to keep up.
A Family Guide to Hunting opens to a beautiful forest, one in which Eva’s parents, June (Margaret Cho) and Sam (Keong Sim), can be seen and heard off in the distance. The landscape is simple, what you’d expect to see in this setting. The colors are clear and crisp, but they are simple, moderate tones. Set against them are Eva’s parents–as they are loud, boisterous in the delivery of their dialogue–but more importantly they, as a result of their hunting trip, are wearing bright, vibrant colors. This immediately expresses to viewers the type of people we are being introduced to–and Writers Zao Wang (also director), Tom Toro, and Carmiel Banasky allow A Family Guide to Hunting to take off from here.
Those brilliant colors cut through the simplicity of the film’s set, and viewers are instantly invited inside the walls of this close knit family; and just as quickly we begin to understand one of the purposes of A Family Guide to Hunting. Racist is one major plot point of this film, but it doesn’t take the form that we might typically see in modern cinema. In this particular case we see Asian parents struggling to come to terms with their daughter’s decision to date a white man (and this comes most prominently from June). There’s a twist here that combats what one might initially believe to be the film’s reality–but plays out in a realistic manner. A Family Guide to Hunting is framed as something like a racist comedy–and we certainly get that; but the film is an in-depth peer into the world of racism, allowing viewers to understand the many forms that it can take. What Wang, Toro, and Banasky do that makes this aspect of the narrative so successful, however, is that comedy. Even in the more intense moments of the film, viewers are provided comedy that eases the tension and provides some much needed levity. The comedy is ultimately the key to A Family Guide to Hunting’s success, and this team of writers knows how to use it to their benefit.
A Family Guide to Hunting is interestingly risque–and they use that to help develop comedy. During a wildly sexual moment between Eva and her fiance Peter (Craig Newman) the comedy peaks, and so does the drama. Using sex as a vehicle for comedy creates an appealing juxtaposition between the heightened comedy and drama in this climactic moment–and with the comedy at an all time high, the emotional rush that comes with Peter’s death is that much more powerful. This isn’t a spoiler, as the team behind A Family Guide to Hunting makes it quite clear what their film will entail–and Wang helps to constantly prepare us for Peter’s death in the opening moments of his film.
The comedy is integral to A Family Guide to Hunting, but there’s deeper meaning present even beyond the mention of racism throughout the film. A Family Guide to Hunting becomes a family guide to being a family. As the family struggles to determine what the right course of action is after Peter’s untimely death, their struggles with one another rise to the surface, and they are forced to face their demons and their fears. A Family Guide to Hunting begs viewers to look at their family dynamic, whatever form it may take, and accept them. That message grows stronger as the film progresses, and this is the greater meaning that takes over the whole of the film.
A physically beautiful film in A Family Guide to Hunting dives deep into the human psyche and takes on everyday issues with great aplomb. This film that seems to be promoted as a racist satire becomes something much bigger, and this team of writers takes advantage of every opportunity throughout the course of the film.
Directed by Zao Wang.
Written by Zao Wang, Tom Toro, & Carmiel Banasky.
Starring Margaret Cho, Kahyun Kim, Keong Sim, & Craig Newman.
8/10 = WORTH RENTING OR BUYING
