Brush with Danger

A painter, a fighter, both artists in their own way. Brother and sister, forced to flee their home, arrive at Seattle inside a shipping container. Trying to make their way in a new world ... See full summary »

Director:

Livi Zheng

Writers:

Ken Zheng, Ken Zheng

Stars:

Ken Zheng, Livi Zheng, Nikita Breznikov

 

Storyline

A painter, a fighter, both artists in their own way. Brother and sister, forced to flee their home, arrive at Seattle inside a shipping container. Trying to make their way in a new world the pair struggle to survive. Until, one day, an art dealer takes an interest in the sister's painting, and the pair find themselves living a dream come true. The sister loses herself in painting, and the brother seizes the opportunity to express himself, as a fighter. But it really is all just a dream. Conned by her patron into forging a Van Gogh. Purchased by a ruthless criminal with a passion for fine art. The brother and sister soon find themselves embroiled in Seattle's criminal underworld and a Brush With Danger.

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User Reviews

 

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30 March 2015 | by Robert de Geus (United States) – See all my reviews

This film made me sad. I'm an aspiring filmmaker. If this is how my first feature turns out, I don't know if I could be confident in my ability anymore.

I watched the premiere in San Francisco, I met the actors and the directors and I want to be clear, they're all very nice, good people that deserve our respect. I wish that made the film good.

The cinematography is actually very cool. They play with light nicely, though some of the slow motion was obviously shot in 24fps and then slowed which looks really bad. Also in low light levels they didn't use a denoiser in post so it can also be very grainy. Overall though, it was pretty and I enjoyed that.

Acting was pretty bad on all accounts. Especially the female mentor. This weird red head lady that was meant to be likable, but came off as a bit of a jerk. The movie definitely should have been in the native language of the lead actors with subtitles. That would have made this film infinitely better. The broken English made watching it pretty painful.

The set design was pretty horrible, very empty. I recognize that as an independent production so that wasn't necessarily their fault. So I tried to look past it, but it still bothered me.

The scenes that did have some value were the "street fight" scenes. Some of them were cool, the director obviously knew her way around the space and all the blocking.

As far as characters go, the film's lead was fairly unlikeable despite the fact that we were meant to sympathize with her. I'm not sure if that was the acting or the writing.

The plot wasn't that original either, but what is these days?

It's an enjoyable film, but if you're going to put 90 minutes into a film, this definitely wouldn't be my first choice. As a courtesy I'll mention a few other titles that are better with about the same length:

1. Bridge to Terabithia 2. The one I Love 3. Identity 4. Short Term 12 5. Moonrise Kingdom 6. Little Manhattan 7. Brief Interviews With Hideous Men 8. Coherence 9. 127 Hours 10. Stand by Me