EYE FOR AN EYE

MÒ SHÌ LÙ

2024 / 125 min / color

After the mysterious disappearance of their young daughter, a young married couple start to receive disturbing video recordings. They realize that someone is filming their daily life, including their most intimate moments. The police set a trap for the mysterious voyeur by installing surveillance cameras around the shaken couple’s house. The stalker’s appearance in Junyang and Peiying’s lives strips their everyday lives of any privacy; the secrets they have been carefully keeping hidden suddenly come to light. It becomes clear that the reality of their relationship looks nothing like two people who care about each other. Reminiscent of Michael Haneke’s Hidden, this atmospheric thriller is a poignant reflection on surveillance, the challenges we face in protecting our privacy, and the fragility of human relationships, all wrapped in a genre narrative. The film’s director Yeo Siew Hua, considered one of the greatest talents of Asian cinema, has said that Singapore, where Stranger Eyes is set, is a place where there’s no escape from the virtual network, and observing or being observed becomes a ritual. The question is: who is watching whom?

• Valladolid IFF – Silver Spike Award