- Release year: 2024
- Director: Siew Hua Yeo.
- Producers: Stefano Centini, Jean-Laurent Csinidis and Alex C. Lo.
- Screenplay by: Siew Hua Yeo.
- Cinematography by: Hideho Urata.
- Music by: Thomas Foguenne.
Synopsis: after her daughter is kidnapped, her father becomes obsessed with the voyeuristic recordings of his family’s stalker.
Shotgun Commentary: painfully long feature for a story that could be resolved in half of the time, losing none of the message.
Review
Stranger Eyes follows a very dysfunctional family with no respect for boundaries or each other during one of the hardest moments of their lives. The film begins with a couple whose daughter has been kidnapped.
The inordinate amount of surveillance cameras are the main police resource. Still, it takes time to check them all, and the couple grow restless. All of a sudden, they receive a DVD from a stalker with an old recording of their daughter and her father doing groceries. This will begin a chain reaction of events that will lead them to unexpected outcomes.
Complexity and stereotypes
The main attraction of the feature is its characters. They are complex, ever-changing, and morally ambiguous. Pretty much as realistic as they can get. Each of them has their own relationship with cameras and surveillance, a relationship that evolves and changes along with them. The main character ends up being the father of the missing girl. A man who, we learn, is literally the opposite of what you would want for a partner and father. He is more interested in having sex with anyone who will accept than in taking care of his daughter. Thus, low-key perpetuating the “bisexuals are whores” stereotype.
After learning about his family’s stalker, he becomes obsessed with the idea of watching other people. At first, his interest seems to come from a need to find his daughter. But later it evolves into something quite unexpected. While it is interesting to see this change in him, there is a great piece of his storyline that feels completely irrelevant and, indeed, slightly dangerous.
Portraying stalking as romantic or as a way to show someone that you care is all sorts of messed up. In a world where everything is recorded and stored somewhere out of our grasp, encouraging further surveillance as an act of love seems like exactly the opposite of what people need. Anyone who has watched the last episode of John Carpenter’s Suburban Screams (2023), or who has tragically been through a similar situation, knows that stalking is anything but romantic. It is not a way to show love and appreciation. It merely shows your lack of respect for other people’s privacy.
A female touch
The careless and egotistical behaviour of the father is easily explained when one meets his mother. Every time you catch yourself thinking “how can a grown man still be such a child”, you see his mother sticking her nose in the couple’s business like she’s the third partner of that relationship, and you automatically answer your own question. She is anyone’s worst nightmare when it comes to in-laws, a person incapable of respecting boundaries or let her kid make any decisions without her. Essentially, an uber-helicopter parent.
As for the mother of the missing girl, she is naturally completely detached from the world, devastated by the loss of her daughter. Like most people with a cheating partner, she felt completely unseen, which leads to a very different relationship with surveillance. Both ignored partner and beloved YouTube influencer, she finds solace in getting someone’s attention for once, a very confusing relationship that will help her grow to become the person she was always supposed to be.
All in all, Stranger Eyes explores surveillance and how dramatic circumstances can bring the worst and the best in people. In an age dominated by digital prints, this type of narrative feels relevant and fresh. It does take the low burn a bit too far, but it is overall an interesting piece.
Advice to take from this movie:
- Kill your darlings. It doesn’t matter how much you love a particular piece of your film, if it adds nothing or has nothing to do with anything, get it out.
- Stalking is not cute, it’s not love or respect. It’s unacceptable.
- If you don’t want to have a kid, I hope you have the means and the strength to not have it. For your sake and theirs.
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