Living in Seduced Circumstances

Running time: 80 mins

If you think you know the story, then you?re Living In Seduced Circumstances.

Continuing both his explorations of visceral shock and hand-held camera, Filipino-American director Ian Gamazon (Cavite, Freud?s 2nd Law) crafts a deceptively simple revenge tale in which Mr. Thanh, (Long Nguyen, Journey of the Fall, Heaven and Earth) is kidnapped and brutally tortured by a mysterious woman (Quyn Ton). As his captor tests Mr. Thanh?s mental and physical limits to their utmost, every assumption the audience makes is similarly tested and shattered. The climax is a collision of universal Freudian sexual dynamics with the bitter realities of the Vietnamese-American experience. Nothing in this taut tale is quite what it seems, and the final scenes are as surprising as they are psychologically intriguing. Gamazon delivers his most polished work to date, once again exploring the connections between family, politics, violence and responsibility.

- GB Brookshire