Film Review: Window Breaker Shatters Misconceptions
Jun 16, 2006
Screen writer and director Tze Chun's latest short film project, “Window Breaker,” challenges misconceptions. Does the way we see people change depending on whether they sport a large gold chain around their neck? How young or old they are? Or what color their skin is?
With a cast composed of locals from the towns of Quincy and Randolph, the film takes the viewer into a seemingly innocuous event -- the installation of a home security system. A working mother inquires about it at the security shop. But, before it's installed, she has to leave her two young children home alone. The kids are told to lock the door and close the drapes, but in the middle of the night, their worst fears are realized. They hear the window break and the marble trap they've set go off.
The intruder escapes and a search is underway, but who is it? Is it one of the Vietnamese kids that their mother had warned them about? Only the children know.
Before the film screening last Monday at the Asian Garden Restaurant in Chinatown, Chun spoke of exploring the climate of prejudice, especially within the Asian American community where ignorance can arise from how each group may see one another. But the film is also culled from personal experiences. With his family home in Randolph serving as the main backdrop, he wanted to bring to light the private fears he experienced as a young child when he and his sister were home alone. During those moments, they would make traps with marbles, which he incorporated as one of the key scenes into the film.
Working on “Window Breaker” was “a really fun and relaxing project," Chun said, even though it was being shot in between two other films. It was also the first time he'd ever worked with children and he found it to be refreshing. Chun's mother also makes an appearance in one of the main roles.
Chun's goal is to work on film projects every six months. What he hopes to give audiences is a slice of life. “Window Breaker” was recently submitted to the Long Island Film Festival in New York. After that, it goes off to some of the bigger film festivals such as Sundance, Slamdance, Toronto International, Telluride, and overseas to countries such as Berlin and China.
***
Starring: Raymond Zhang, Fiona Chen, Ai-Cheng Goh, Bryan Wilson, Jeff Bellin, Emily Lodish, Trung Tang
Writer and Director: Tze Chun
Producer: Bryan Wilson
Editor: Anna Boden
Running Time: 11 minutes
To check out the film
e-mail Chun at tze@thecomplications.com or log on to www.thecomplications.com.
With a cast composed of locals from the towns of Quincy and Randolph, the film takes the viewer into a seemingly innocuous event -- the installation of a home security system. A working mother inquires about it at the security shop. But, before it's installed, she has to leave her two young children home alone. The kids are told to lock the door and close the drapes, but in the middle of the night, their worst fears are realized. They hear the window break and the marble trap they've set go off.
The intruder escapes and a search is underway, but who is it? Is it one of the Vietnamese kids that their mother had warned them about? Only the children know.
Before the film screening last Monday at the Asian Garden Restaurant in Chinatown, Chun spoke of exploring the climate of prejudice, especially within the Asian American community where ignorance can arise from how each group may see one another. But the film is also culled from personal experiences. With his family home in Randolph serving as the main backdrop, he wanted to bring to light the private fears he experienced as a young child when he and his sister were home alone. During those moments, they would make traps with marbles, which he incorporated as one of the key scenes into the film.
Working on “Window Breaker” was “a really fun and relaxing project," Chun said, even though it was being shot in between two other films. It was also the first time he'd ever worked with children and he found it to be refreshing. Chun's mother also makes an appearance in one of the main roles.
Chun's goal is to work on film projects every six months. What he hopes to give audiences is a slice of life. “Window Breaker” was recently submitted to the Long Island Film Festival in New York. After that, it goes off to some of the bigger film festivals such as Sundance, Slamdance, Toronto International, Telluride, and overseas to countries such as Berlin and China.
***
Starring: Raymond Zhang, Fiona Chen, Ai-Cheng Goh, Bryan Wilson, Jeff Bellin, Emily Lodish, Trung Tang
Writer and Director: Tze Chun
Producer: Bryan Wilson
Editor: Anna Boden
Running Time: 11 minutes
To check out the film
e-mail Chun at tze@thecomplications.com or log on to www.thecomplications.com.
Article Reference: http://www.sampan.org/show_article.php?display=663
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