Festival Dispatch #10: Connections 💞
Part 2 of our HollyShorts Film Festival coverage.
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Another day, another issue of shorts. Today, here are reviews of two films that deserved a little more space to noodle on them. First, Vlog, an emotional outing by Yvonne Strahovski about the trials and tribulations of the stay-at-home mom. Then, Technicians, by Kevin and Kelly Luu, exploring the solidarity of class consciousness. Enjoy :)
Vlog
written and directed by Yvonne Strahovski
I don’t need to tell you that mommy vloggers can make bank. With their curated meals and beautiful homes, they exist to give other mamas something to aspire to — and of course, to move product. Motherhood was commodified and commercialized long before “influencer” became a job title. But in the age of social media, the appearance of grace, wealth, and perfection are part of the job. When you’re a walking, talking advertisement, you have to perpetuate the lie that women can have it all. In this new short written, directed, and starring Yvonne Strahovski (in her native accent!) she exposes the lie of digital momfluencer culture.
Yvonne (no character name was given) , a young married stay-at-home mom with “two under two,” spends her days corralling her children, doing chores, and filming the vlogs required of her various brand deals. Her house is cluttered with the detritus of wayward toddlers — abandoned toys, pacifiers, and the messes they make to amuse. There is nowhere in her home where her kids won’t follow. She is visibly exhausted and overwhelmed. But it’s clear how much she loves her children. She spends hours playing with them and amusing them — being the kind of parent that they deserve. When, early in the film, she discovers that she is pregnant yet again, she’s excited.
Now you might be asking, “Where is her husband?”And the answer is the same as it always is: not there. Though, that may be too harsh an assessment. He is there. He is omnipresent. But he is wallpaper. Tellingly, his face is never even shown onscreen. He ignores the scattered toys and dirty kitchen, only stepping in when her morning sickness gets so bad that she can barely move. And even that is barely managed. When she laments that she’s a “shit mum,” he reassures her that she’s not. But he never actually lifts a finger to help her. Later — sitting on the floor and surrounded by dirty clothing — she tells him that she’s already done 6 loads of laundry. His response? “I’ll give you a seventh load.”
All the while, she is still pumping out her beautiful videos for her followers (20% discount with code calmmama20!). She is sparkling white in every video, flanked by generic but pretty enough wall art. There’s no aspect of her life that she doesn’t feel compelled to cover in an artificial sheen of forced joy. In her second semester, when she finally announces her pregnancy to her followers (she’s hit 100,00! Yay!), the veil of perfection remains. Horrifying morning sickness doesn’t sell.
It’s why watching her pad through the story feels so frustrating. At multiple junctures, her husband walks into cacophony and simply walks out again. She’s left to handle every aspect of their lives on her own. The imbalance wears on her. So much so that when her young son snatches her phone as she’s recording a vlog, she loses it. She gets angry and swears at him, screaming. The one thing she asked her husband to do was keep the kids quiet while she filmed, and he couldn’t even manage it. It would seem the impulse really is foreign to him.
The next day, her husband wakes her. She’s uploaded the wrong video. 275,000 people have seen her tantrum, pregnant belly on full display. She’s understandably mortified — but no one else is. Comment after comment reveal other mothers similarly overburdened. This candid moment makes them feel seen.
Vlog is a wonderfully sweet and honest look at the lives so many women are living. Stuck in the ouroboros of forced perfection, it can be isolating to feel like other moms have everything together — and they’re making it look easy too. Here, Yvonne shows the reality behind that lie, and it’s as charming as it is frustrating.
Technicians
written and directed by Kevin Luu & Kelly Luu
As the gulf between rich and poor widens exponentially, it makes sense that art would begin to reflect that change. There are so many more of us than there are of them, and the minutiae of the lives we live — the stories we tell to get us through — deserve to be told.
Answering that call is Technicians, a beautiful short by Kevin Luu & Kelly Luu. Starring J. Alphonse Nicholson and Cathy Bui, the story follows David (Alphonse) as he arrives at a nail salon to install new machines that will replace the Vietnamese women already working as technicians. That includes Tippi (Bui). And when she volunteers to stay late to help David close the store after installation, the two begin a dance that impacts both their lives and leaves them changed for the better.
When we meet David, he is taking care of his ailing mother, and working as an automation technician while he codes video games on the side. He is behind on paying for his mother’s medical treatment, (incurring an additional 12% late fee) and trying his best to get by on the one-off assignments his boss sends his way.
When we meet Tippi, she is working with the other Vietnamese women in her community at the nail salon. They’re all about to be fired and replaced with the machines David will install. But she refuses to go down without a fight. As the night creeps in and David works late, she asks him to let her give him a manicure.
The conversation they have as she files and buffs his nails pulls out emotional things for both of them. For her, nail care as culture — passed down from mother to daughter. And for him, the life his mother used to be able to lead, getting a “haircut for your nails” whenever she could. The memory brings tears to David’s eyes. It’s a fleeting acknowledgment of the strain he is under. Sure, he’s surviving. But just barely. And that isn’t enough. Tippi tells him that disclosures like these are part of what make the personal touch of a manicure so special. When it comes down to it, the service she provides is connection.
Tippi makes her case and asks him not to install the manicure machines. But he refuses. He tells her that this is just the way the world is. They’re being replaced, and now it’s up to her to hustle harder. Furious, she takes his car keys, one of the machines, and makes a run for it. Her desperation is palpable. Losing this position is about more than just a job. It’s something that ties her to her mother, grandmother, and the rest of her immigrant Vietnamese community. This is existential to her.
But it’s existential for David too. A fuckup this big would cost him his livelihood, and with it his ability to care for his mother. Tippi relents. The look on his face is one of desperation. She knows they’re in the same position, left to fend for themselves in a world that is sucking them dry for their labor.
David installs the machines.
The next day, the new (white) owner comes in to test them. But mysteriously, they’re bricked. It’ll take months to repair them. David can’t fix them, but he promises to run it up the chain to his boss. Tippi’s services are needed once more.
One of the lessons of Bong Joon Ho’s Oscar-winning film Parasite is that we can’t survive if we turn on each other. Class solidarity is imperative if we’re all going to make it out alive. And it’s this idea that comes to mind t again in Technicans. David and Tippi — technicians both — choose to side with each other instead of with capital. It isn’t an overthrow of a system, but it’s a targeted act of rebellion meant to give each other relief. It’s coalition building in its most nascent form. And as the Luus expertly demonstrate, even that can make a profound impact on someone’s life.
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Zosha + Cate <3
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