“Bunnylovr,” the first feature from Katarina Zhu, touches on various themes, none of which feels fully realized. Yet there is such a sweet symbiosis between Zhu’s intimate, easy directing style and her unselfconscious performance in the lead role — beautifully illuminated by Daisy Zhou’s gentle cinematography — that the movie’s aimlessness rarely grates.
Focusing on Rebecca (Zhu), a directionless young woman trying to survive in New York City, “Bunnylovr” paints an empathetic portrait of 20-something indecision. By day, Rebecca works a “nothing job,” assisting a grumpy financial adviser; at night, she enjoys performing as a cam girl in her Brooklyn apartment. At an age when we’ve all been guilty of making poor choices, Rebecca is tentatively learning what she will and won’t do for money, how to construct serviceable boundaries and whom she can trust to respect them. There’s her closest friend, Bella (Rachel Sennott), a privileged artist who is using Rebecca as an unpaid model. There’s her ex-boyfriend (Jack Kilmer), whom Rebecca willingly sleeps with in the vain hope of reviving the relationship. And there’s her long-estranged father (Perry Yung), a gambling addict who has recently reappeared in her life, now terminally ill and claiming that he needs her to bring him luck.
Most troubling is the anonymous cam client (Austin Amelio) who wants Rebecca’s exclusive online attention. His gift of a white rabbit is a lure in a fishing game that grows increasingly unsettling, but “Bunnylovr” isn’t a horror movie or even a thriller.
“Do you think I’m evil?,” Rebecca asks Bella, but of course she’s not. She’s just a lonely woman mapping the vast territory between digital and real-life connection in a movie that’s content to watch her with kindness and without judgment.
Bunnylovr Not rated. Running time: 1 hour 26 minutes. In theaters.
The post ‘Bunnylovr’ Review: Run, Rabbit appeared first on New York Times.
