‘Bunnylovr’ Review: Director/Star Katarina Zhu Does It All in Cam Girl Film
Though “Bunnylovr” is built around her playing a complex character trying to discover what it is she wants for herself, star Katarina Zhu, who also writes and directs the film, is clearly confident in her approach. This is a drama that feels intentionally fragmented in nature, as if we’re observing a person remembering back the moments that helped to alter the course of their life.
With great editing by Stephania Dulowski, who also worked on the underrated “Tendaberry” from last year’s Sundance, the film is uninterested in the more conventional moments we would typically expect from this type of film. Instead, Zhu focuses on smaller, more specific emotional beats. It’s a flawed debut feature — there is a fundamental distance between us and the film’s main character — but Zhu shows immense promise.
“Bunnylovr” is set in the world of camming, which Rebecca (Zhu) does in addition to working another job, hooking up with her not-quite-boyfriend, posing as a model for her artistic friend and just wandering her way through life. This will then become disrupted by the appearance of her absent, chaotic father (Perry Yung) who is in ailing health, and she begins to develop a complicated relationship with one of her patrons online. When the patron sends her a strange gift — a bunny that gives the film its title — Rebecca is unsure what to make of it but still continues to open up and talk to this faceless online mystery man.
“Bunnylovr” at times recalls films like the spectacular “We’re All Going to the World’s Fair” and “Cam” in how it frankly explores online sex work, but Zhu is also tapping into something that is more modern in its discontentment and hard to pin down. There is a moment of montage as the film observes Rebecca restlessly bouncing around her cramped apartment and then showcases extended chats with the online man. Zhu is excellent in both, capturing the layers to her character as she is partly “working” while still letting pieces of herself slip in. We feel her anxieties and fears just as we do her desire to push herself out of her comfort zone.
There are some elements that can feel out of place, especially when it comes to Rachel Sennott’s distractingly awkward performance as the aforementioned artist character. We get that she doesn’t seem to actually care about Rebecca, but we get the sense that the feeling is also mutual. And yet, it’s an aspect of Rebecca’s character that the film doesn’t really explore. There is much we don’t know about Rebecca, and through most of the film’s runtime she remains something of an enigma.
Of course, what ultimately makes “Bunnylovr” work is how Rebecca doesn’t yet fully know herself either. The decisions she makes, including a critical one that breaks down the barrier between the online and the real world, are about her trying something new for herself only to discover that maybe she doesn’t even want to do this. It’s about a character putting themselves out there and then pulling back, something Zhu captures with striking authenticity. Rebecca is still trying to piece together who she is, and the fragments are part of the experience. All you can do is look, listen and go along with the experience.
Though it can feel a little jarring, what it feels like we are missing is ultimately not important. The lack of closure is the point. In one final excellent montage, we see how the tiny details provide bursts of transformation for Rebecca. As long as she’s got her rabbit by her side as she continues to change and explore, you get the sense that she’ll be just fine.
“Bunnylovr” is a sales title at Sundance.
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