Nina Wu (2019)

IMDb plot summary: Nina Wu, a girl who leaves small theatre company in the country for the big city in pursuit of her actress dream.

Directed by Midi Z. Starring Ke-Xi Wu, Vivian Sung, and Kimi Hsia.

Nina Wu follows the story of an aspiring actress who gets her breakthrough as the lead in a big successful movie, only to then start having strange experiences in the aftermath that may or may not be real. I'm not going to get too spoilery beyond that. While often I'm not drawn into vaguely surreal stories where it's hard to tell reality from dreams, it's done quite well here, largely because our emotional connection to the character is never dampened by her experiences not being "real." The story heavily features themes of young women being mistreated in the film industry, and that remains thematically central in all aspects of the story, so whether or not you can plot out the narrative it's clear what the emotional underpinning is intended to be. The film ends with a bit of a "twist" that I did anticipate, but it brought out strong reactions from folks who saw it -- some thought it was minimizing some of the character's most hurtful experiences. While I understand that point of view and wouldn't necessarily recommend the film to everyone because of that, I did not have that response to it and instead left feeling deeply moved by the story I'd seen.

How it entered my Flickchart:

Nina Wu > Captain Phillips

Nina Wu < Key Largo

Nina Wu > Swing Shift

Nina Wu > The Country Girl

Nina Wu < Last Action Hero

Nina Wu > Fail Safe (2000)

Nina Wu > Elvis

Nina Wu > The Awful Truth

Nina Wu > The Last Seduction

Nina Wu < The Secret Garden (1987)

Nina Wu < Cats (2019)

Nina Wu < Gentleman's Agreement

Final spot: #1098 out of 3877, or 72%.