Writer, director and star Katarina Zhu‘s feature debut is a very personal portrait of fulfillment, bringing a nuanced perspective to universal themes of daddy issues, privilege and self-love.
In Bunnylovr, Zhu plays Becca, a 20-something Chinese American who struggles through life in New York City while moonlighting as a cam girl. Her life takes a turn when a persistent client sends her a live bunny, whom she names Milk, and she runs into her estranged, dying father.
Being fetishized and objectified by everyone in her life quickly takes a toll on Becca. She’s her father William’s (Perry Yung) lucky charm, helping him count cards in the park; she’s her best friend Bella’s (Rachel Sennott) muse, even though the artist ultimately makes her feel violated with her “feminist” creative license; her ex Carter (Jack Kilmer) strings her along as she struggles to move on; and her regular cam client John (Austin Amelio) sees her as mere property.
Despite his thinly-veiled toxic behavior, Becca begins to find comfort in her private video chats with John. It doesn’t hurt that he offers financial incentive in exchange for her virtual companionship, a dynamic that represents a very real power imbalance in many relationships.
Through a series of depraved virtual encounters with John, the rabbit represents her finally taking agency and caring for herself. Reluctant to keep the animal at first, given the strings attached, Becca soon grows fond and even protective over her new pet. And without spoiling the film’s emotionally fulfilling arc, another furry friend seems to represent her rekindled relationship with her father.
While Sennott gives another divinely self-aware comedic performance as Becca’s privileged artist pal, their friendship goes on an emotional arc that’s all too real for anyone lucky enough to have a friend that genuinely and fiercely cares for them at the end of the day.
Ultimately, the film is about a drifting people-pleaser who never manages to please herself until she ultimately finds release (pun very intended) and reaches a place of mindfulness, embracing the good in her life and leaving behind the painful parasitic relationships.
Inspired by Zhu’s own relationship with her absent father and the other men in her life, Bunnylovr takes audiences on a cathartic journey through the ephemeral experience of floating about online while seeking intimacy in the digital age.
Producers are Tristan Scott-Behrends, Ani Schroeter, Rhianon Jones, Roger Mancusi and Rachel Sennott.
Title: Bunnylovr
Section: Sundance (U.S. Dramatic Competition)
Sales Agent: Utopia, WME
Director-Screenwriter: Katarina Zhu
Cast: Katarina Zhu, Rachel Sennott, Austin Amelio, Perry Yung and Jack Kilmer
Running time: 86 min