Stranger Eyes
Directed by Yeo Siew Hua
Singapore
2024
126 mins

Synopsis

Anonymous CCTV recordings show up on a grieving couple’s doorstep after their baby goes missing in this twisty thriller, the first-ever Singaporean film in competition at Venice.

In bustling Singapore, young couple Junyang (Wu Chien-ho) and Peiying (Anicca Panna) are despondent after the abduction of their baby. Soon, they begin receiving DVDs with footage of their final moments with the child, setting off a tense police investigation. Suspicion falls on their enigmatic neighbour, Wu (Tsai Ming-liang collaborator Lee Kang-sheng, superb), and surveillance on everyone intensifies – causing cracks to form in the couple’s own façade. Buried secrets and hidden desires surface in their cramped high-rise apartment. This surreal, surprising thriller from Locarno winner Yeo Siew Hua (A Land Imagined) brings Rear Window and Caché (Hidden) into the age of screens, surveillance culture and urban sprawl.

Stranger Eyes comments thoughtfully on a collective eradication of private life via sundry screens and lenses, and a fraying of the social fabric as a result.
Guy Lodge, Variety
  • Original Title
    默視錄
  • Year
    2024
  • Classification
    Unclassified 18+
  • Country
    Singapore, Taiwan, France, USA
  • Language
    In Mandarin with English subtitles
  • Director
    Yeo Siew Hua
  • Producer
    Fran Borgia, Stefano Centini, Jean-Laurent Csinidis, Alex C. Lo
  • Cast
    Lee Kang-Sheng, Wu Chien-Ho, Anicca Panna
  • Screenwriter
    Yeo Siew Hua
  • Cinematographer
    Hideho Urata
  • Editor
    Jean-Christophe Bouzy
  • Genre
    Asia, Thriller & Crime
  • Premiere
    Australian Premiere
  • Company Credits
    Australian Distributor: Palace Films
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