White Rabbit (Review)

White Rabbit Speaks to Millenials and the Identity Crisis They Suffer From.

There are a lot of character study movies out there that walk a mile in the shoes of some crazy, mixed up individuals. So, what makes White Rabbit so special? Well, this time the character is actually pretty damn interesting. This film marked the first one on my list for the Florida Film Festival, and I have to say that it set a pretty high bar for the rest of them to aim for.

At the center of White Rabbit is Vivian Bang who plays Sophia, a Korean American who creates impassioned performance art pieces, Mukbang videos (Google it), and completes menial tasks for people to make ends meet. Needless to say, Sophia’s identity is all over the place when it comes to this film, and that’s probably why I could see so much of myself in her as a millennial. For Sophia, her quest to be heard is tied to finding her true purpose in life. Much of her time is spent questioning what she’s doing or how she is even supposed to make it in the world without sacrificing the one part of her she has any confidence in. Needless to say, it’s enough to fill any 20 something year old with anxiety.

So what could make Sophia’s life more complicated? Well, that would be Victoria (Nana Ghana) who plays a much more confident 20 something who seems to connect with Sophia on all the right levels. Both of them are passionate intersectional feminists with the souls of artists. It would seem like these two are a match made in heaven, which explains why Sophia starts to get some serious feels for Victoria.

What I loved so much about White Rabbit is how it humanizes its characters. It would be easy to fall into cliches like the old Hollywood manic pixie dream girl, but it never takes the easy way out. Instead, I would say that White Rabbit decides to walk a very complicated path with its characters and that totally pays off in the end. Like I said, it’s easy to see yourself in Sophia and in a way it’s easy to see why Sophia would get such intense feelings for Victoria. However, Sophia is as lost when it comes to love as she is when it comes to figuring out life, which makes for a perfect metaphor throughout the movie.

The cornerstone of White Rabbit lies in the chemistry between Ghana and Bang. The two take to their roles like fish to water and give genuine performances that speak to the ideals of millennials across the country. Here’s the thing though, a lot of people don’t like millennials and in some ways, I can’t blame them for disliking me of my generation. We’re far from perfect, but that’s a whole bag of worms I don’t want to get into. Rest assured that Sophia and Victoria are far from perfect as well. For one thing, their relationship becomes so incredibly complicated because they’re both… Kinda idiots when it comes to personal relationships. Something that seems at odds with the empathy they have for the plights of all those disadvantaged.

Things start to crumble for Sophia when she falls hard for Victoria. The problem is that Victoria doesn’t swing that way and honestly just wants to be friends. I guess you could say that Sophia gets totally friend zoned when she puts herself out there, but I don’t really buy into that “nice guy crap.” So instead, let’s just say that Sophia hurts herself tremendously with a bit of help from Victoria. It’s painful to watch, but only because that pain will be all so familiar to many people in the audience.

White Rabbit is a film about how hard it is to define yourself today. For the main characters their heritage, their gender, their sexuality, their passions, all pull them in a million different directions. It’s harder now than ever to sum yourself up in a single sentence and White Rabbit takes a hard look at that. It might not have any answers in the end, but it lets you know that you’re not alone when it comes to this modern identity crisis we all suffer from. Honestly, though, I’d rather have that than answers though. Suffering sucks, but suffering alone is even worse.