MQFF NOTES: Front Cover (2015, Dir. Ray Yeung)

Maybe it is just me but I got a niggling sense that Ray Yeung's Front Cover hasn't quite shifted the cultural self-loathing it goes to great lengths to examine.

Yeung plays with some pretty serious stereotypes here. I found it a little odd, for instance, that some of the most raucous reactions came from some of the film's less sensitive jabs. An interaction on a hookup site, for example, where our main character, NYC stylist Ryan (Jake Choi), intimates his penis size got an appreciative roar. So did a lot of the jokes hinging on arrogant film star love interest, Ning (James Chen) and his mispronunciation or misunderstanding of English.

There's an overall whininess of the lead (can someone really be successful in the fashion industry and moan this much) and the flip flopping of the love interest on all things cultural (new China is the bomb then old China is where its at, then America all the way) make for a thematically confused film that irritates more than involves.

That said, the crowd in attendance ate this up, so I'm guessing many of Yeung's beats will play exceptionally well for those who have experienced first hand.

★★☆

Trailer:

Front Cover screened as part of the Melbourne Queer Film Festival 2016.

You can check out other films from the festival here.