by John Noonan
Worth: $15.00
FilmInk rates movies out of $20 — the score indicates the amount we believe a ticket to the movie to be worth
Cast:
Joyena Sun, Jess Hong, Mark Mitchinson, Jared Turner
Intro:
… if you were looking for Re-Animator meets Mean Girls with an allegory about immigration, then Grafted is going to scratch that very niche itch.
Leaving behind a traumatic childhood, immigrant Wei (Joyena Sun) has arrived in New Zealand enrolled at university and living with her aunt and cousin Angela (Jess Hong). Co-living with extended family starts on the wrong foot, with Wei’s Chinese customs being mocked at every step by Angela, who does everything she can to ensure she herself ‘fits in’ with her white and Tongan friends. So far, so drama about culture clash. However, despite her cousin’s bullying, Wei is laser-focused on one thing: completing her late father’s experiments in revolutionary skin grafting. With daddy’s notebook in hand, Wei hopes to ‘cure’ skin blemishes not just for the world, but also herself.
Taken under the wing by her duplicitous professor, Paul (Jared Turner), Wei begins to perfect the solution to skin transplants. However, just as things are beginning to look up for the put-upon student, a horrific accident sees her having to use her research to help navigate a gloopy path to success. Yep, if you were looking for Re-Animator meets Mean Girls with an allegory about immigration, then Grafted is going to scratch that very niche itch.
Directed by Sasha Rainbow and co-written by Lee Murray, Mia Maramara and Hweiling Ow, Grafted feels like an experiment in itself, marrying the bloody tropes of ‘80s body horror with the sensibilities of a fish out of water narrative. Wei is our surrogate audience in the strange world of New Zealand suburbia, where everyone needs to keep up appearances. Take Wei’s aunty, who, despite being walked out on by her husband, refuses to acknowledge that being an Avon lady is unlikely to help pay the bills for all the renovation that needs to be done to her palatial home. At university, Wei is smirked upon by her peers for the horrific crime of being both gifted in chemistry and – gasp – modest to boot. The only person who doesn’t seem to judge her is the disfigured vagrant, John (Mark Mitchinson), with whom she develops a strong bond.
Before things get to kitchen sink drama, an ill-placed chopstick to the face starts up the film’s horror credentials in earnest. As Wei uses her father’s work to swap faces with those around her, Rainbow really ratchets up the gore-soaked fervour.
Wei’s face-swapping provides giddy thrills, for sure. However, it also allows other cast members to adopt the mannerisms Sun has brought to the character; for which, everyone is utterly believable. It’d be fascinating to understand the process of how each scene was choreographed to fully immerse the audience in the belief that Wei is donning numerous personalities.
If honesty is on the table, there is the wish that Grafted gave more time to wallow in the lives of the people she steals, to dig deeper into the nebulous requirements laid out by society to decide who is an immigrant and who is a bonafide true blue kiwi. Particularly when it comes to the character of Angela, whose shunning of her mother’s language and customs is painted as villainous, if nothing else. But then, that kind of exploration is perhaps more suited to a narrative that isn’t soaked in blood and sinew.
If you’re not up for seeing skin being ripped from muscle, then Grafted is unlikely to be the film for you. But oh, if you leave, the fun you’ll lament missing.
