Featured, Home, Movie Reviews

Movie Review: “Brush With Danger” Paints An All-Too Familiar Landscape

[yasr_overall_rating]
 

A brother and sister, both artists, are forced to flee their home in Asia. They arrive in Seattle inside a shipping container and try to make their way in the new world until one day, an art dealer takes an interest in the sister’s paintings and the pair find themselves living the American dream. But not for long.

“Brush with Danger” tells a contemporary tale about a subject matter that has been in the news lately and quite frankly, always seems to be in the headlines: illegal immigration. It doesn’t matter what nationality the people are, thousands upon thousands flock to the United States every year seeking asylum from persecution or in most cases, to begin a better life for themselves and their families. While America always seems to be under attack for some reason or another, refugees look to this country for a better life. While many do not make it, some die along the way or are deported back to their country of origin, there are some who do make it and “Brush with Danger” is one of those stories, albeit a fictional one.

As the movie begins, we see a large shipping container being opened late one night at a Seattle ship yard and the contents? Illegal immigrants from Asia. They are quickly ushered out of the vessel and disperse into the night, with the intent of making it in a strange land that they’ve only ever seen on TV or in magazines. Ken (Ken Zheng) and his sister Alice (Livi Zheng) are quickly attacked by a mugger and although they fight back and give chase, they lose him in unfamiliar territory, along with all the money they had brought with them. While scavenging for food in a local restaurant trash can, they hear a woman’s plea for help and fight off a would-be purse-snatcher, much to the lady’s relief.

As the owner of said restaurant, Elizabeth (Stephanie Hilbert) offers her thanks and immediately sees that they are not in good shape whereby she brings them in and cooks a meal for them. They quickly bond and she concludes after a conversation with them, that they are illegal and becomes their friend. As an artist displaying her work locally, Alice promptly draws the attention of a neighborhood gallery owner, Justus Sullivan (Norman Newkirk) and he offers her and Ken a place to stay if she will paint for him. After agreeing to do so, when he asks her to copy a Van Gogh for a friend, she suspects something is not right and her and Ken’s lives quickly spiral out of control.

The film’s director, Livi Zheng, who also plays Alice, should remain behind the camera. Neither her nor her real-life brother Ken Zheng, who also plays her brother in the movie, can act and this one aspect of the movie, unfortunately, brings it down several notches. In order for the audience to believe the story, they need to be able to connect with the characters onscreen and when you have two actors who simply cannot perform, then you’re already fighting an uphill battle. I give Ms. Zheng kudos for tackling such a controversial topic but instead of trying to make a heartfelt story about immigrants trying to find their way in a new environment and the hardships they face, the film instead, succumbs to conventional.

We are introduced to the underworld of art forgery in which Alice is an unsuspecting participant and then Ken becomes embroiled in illegal underground fighting at which point the movie’s finale descends into such melodrama, that what believable elements were introduced early on, are tossed out the window in favor of a more customary and by the numbers shoot-em-up ending. I feel the movie could have worked so much better had it chosen a different path, a more believable one that concentrated on Alice and Ken’s hardships as they live day to day, uncertain of where their next meal is going to come from and living in constant fear of being deported back to Asia. As it stands, it’s a movie with good intentions but that’s about all.

Available on VOD May 5th

MV5BMTQ5NzUzNzk3N15BMl5BanBnXkFtZTgwNjAzMzI0MjE@._V1_SX720

Subscribe
Notify of
guest

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.

0 Comments
Inline Feedbacks
View all comments

James McDonald

Originally from Dublin, Ireland, James is a Movie Critic with 40 years of experience in the film industry as an Award-Winning Filmmaker. He is also a member of the Critics Choice Association and the Dallas-Fort Worth Film Critics Association.