Film Review: Smoke Gets in Your Eyes

Author: Rebys J. Hynes (Insta: @rebysjhynes)

Translator: Shiying Liu

English Version Article

In the short film Smoke Gets in Your Eyes (dir. by Alvin Lee), hapless funeral director Meng sends the wrong body for cremation. Instead of Mr. Tan, an old man with nobody to mourn him, he sends the father of three siblings already gathered for the forthcoming ceremony. Trying to make amends with the distraught siblings, he devises a plan for a sham funeral. This is a great premise and the film does not disappoint. It is sharply funny and contains a remarkable sincerity, as it meditates on the performance and monetisation of grief.

The cast are phenomenal. Wang Wei Liang plays Meng with the quiet awkwardness of someone earnestly trying to make the best of a bad situation. There are a few moments spent with his character in solitude that eloquently show the loneliness of working in funeral care. This isolation makes him such an oddly caring character, despite his colossal mistake. The actors who play the three siblings (Oon Shu An, Benjamin Heng and Priscelia Chan) bring such a strong emotionality to their performances. Their grief feels natural and raw, even though they are slightly elevated caricatures who are so often the butt of the joke. This is what Smoke does so well – it manages to be wry and witty whilst also being emotional and authentic.

The film is shot beautifully by DOP Chuck Tham. Many shots have a lot of dead space, making the characters feel small in the world and in the situation. I was pleasantly surprised by the film’s pace. The burning happens in the film’s irreverent first shot (from the POV of the burning corpse) and the news is broken to the family shortly after. A lesser film would overexplain the premise, or obscure the truth from the siblings, whereas Smoke hurls all its characters into the deep end and sees how they react. This allows it to explore its premise and themes with time and nuance.

The satire is sharp. Lee takes a lot of swings at the grief-industrial complex and how exploitative funeral practices mine people’s wallets at the worst time of their lives. The film explores interesting ideas about the purpose of funerals, in a way that reminds me of the adage that ‘funerals are for the living’. With the body already cremated, the siblings – and the audience – are forced to question why they are having the funeral. Who is it for? Can they still connect to – and mourn – the body of a person they never knew, in the place of their father? The film never comes to any concrete answer because to do so is nigh impossible. The characters can only react to the questions, never answer them.

Smoke Gets in Your Eyes is a darkly funny and delightfully earnest watch. It screens at MINT Chinese Film Festival at the Keswick Alhambra Cinema, running 1st-4th February. I highly recommend you check it out.

Short Film Strand: Unconventional Strangers

Screening Time：

2024.2.1 Thu. 19:00

2024.2.2 Fri. 10:15

2024.2.4 Sun. 10:00

Venue: Keswick Alhambra Cinema, 36 St John's St, Keswick CA12 5AG, UK

Get Tickets Here: Keswick Alhambra Cinema

You can now secure the Festival Pass to access the Mint CFF films, events and programmes with a 50% discount.🔗 Find more information about what you can enjoy from the Festival Pass at festival website: unicornscreening.com/passes-tickets-2024

中文版文章：悲情喜剧《烟熏到了眼睛》影评

作者：Rebys J. Hynes

翻译：都鹏宇

在短片《烟熏到了我的眼睛》（李昌荣导演）中，倒霉的殡仪馆承办人小孟错误地火化了尸体。他本应该火化掉没有人来哀悼的谭先生，可是却火化掉了这个有三个孩子，并且都前来参加他葬礼的人。而是派了已经聚集在一起的三个兄弟姐妹的父亲参加即将举行的仪式。为了给这几个心烦意乱的兄妹们赔罪，他制定了一个假葬礼的计划。这是一个伟大的前提而且这部电影也没有让人失望。这部片子十分滑稽、有趣，并且包含着极大程度的真诚，因为它思考了对于悲伤的表演和货币化。

本片演员阵容非常出色。王伟良饰演的小孟，认真地试图在糟糕的情况下尽力而为，带着一种安静的尴尬。在一些时刻，他的角色在独处中度过，完全呈现出在殡仪馆工作的孤独感。尽管他犯了很大的错误，但这种孤立使他成为一个奇怪的、有爱心的人。扮演三兄妹的演员（温淑安、王智国和曾诗梅,）带来了富有强烈情感的表演。他们的悲伤感觉自然而原始，尽管他们是略显高调的漫画式人物，经常成为笑话的笑柄。这就是《烟熏》做得很好的地方——它既幽默又诙谐，同时又充满情感和真诚。

这部电影由摄影指导 Chuck Tham 拍摄，十分精美。许多镜头都有死角，让角色在世界和自己的处境中感觉到渺小。我对这部电影的节奏感到惊喜。燃烧发生在影片玩世不恭的第一个镜头中（从正在燃烧着的尸体的视角），不久之后这个消息就传给了家人。一部相对逊色的影片会过度解释前提，或者对兄妹们掩盖真相，而《烟熏》则将所有角色扔进深渊，看他们如何反应。这样的安排使得影片能够随着时间的流逝和细微的变化探索其前提和主题。

影片的讽刺很尖锐。李昌荣导演用大量笔触描绘丧葬产业的复杂性以及葬礼行为是如何在人们生命中最糟糕的时刻榨取他们的钱包的。这部电影探讨了围绕葬礼目的有趣的想法，这让我想起了“葬礼是为了生者”这句格言。因为尸体已经火化，兄妹们和观众被迫质疑他们为什么要举行葬礼。这是给谁的葬礼？他们是否能与这个从未认识的人的尸体产生情感连接、并且哀悼他，代替他们的父亲呢？这部电影并未给出任何具体的答案，因为这样做几乎是不可能的。角色只能对问题做出反应，而不能回答问题。