Mei’s (Erin Luo) idea of the American Dream comes crashing down when her landlady, Mrs. Xu (Mingjie Zhai), comes knocking to collect long overdue rent. The young girl is a student, struggling to fit in with her surroundings, but Xu is willing to let the rent slide on one condition: Mei must clean her home and work to pay off the debt. Already in a tight spot due to her apartment being potentially put up for sale, the girl agrees. But what initially seems like a menial task quickly turns dangerous when a pair of burglars (Jack Kenway Cheng and Terence Chin) break into Xu’s house.
Expertly shot and staged, Across From is the time-tested tale of the immigrant experience and what life is like for those at the very bottom of the totem pole. Mei is never in a position to ask for favors; every misstep, whether coincidental or accidental, is an automatic road to degradation, bordering on racism. This manifests in the short’s key moment, when Xu’s neighbor (Martin R. Hardlund) blames Mei for the break-in right in front of a police officer (Tiffany King), leading to a massive misunderstanding.
However, the short fails to address its core topics effectively in multiple ways. While its cinematography and set design are impressive, its screenplay and dialogue are not its strongest points. Dialogue is a tricky thing to get right, and in Across From, subtlety is rarely part of the script’s vocabulary. Too often are characters stuck with stilted, on-the-nose lines that are spoken into the middle distance—a problem that persists through the pivotal robbery scene and the crescendo of the film where the cop, the elderly neighbor, and Mei argue in the courtyard.
Writer/director Zhuoqian Yu’s film works best when it operates off its many narrative implications—what isn’t said is infinitely more profound than what is. Mei’s social status and financial debt make for solid social commentary, but in practice they amount to little more than fleeting mentions. In contrast, her walk through Xu’s luxury estate is a spectacularly coordinated showcase for the underlying class divide, reminiscent of Bong Joon Ho’s Parasite. The furniture, the ornate decorations, and the pool are all perfectly placed elements of visual storytelling at its most fundamentally brilliant.
Despite losing a lot of tension due to its uneven writing, Across From still showcases moments of brilliance, particularly in its thematic approach to racial prejudices and immigrant lifestyles.
