Hong Kong Family

Effigy is a surreal, atmospheric exploration of the boundaries between reality, delusion, and the darkest corners of human desire. The film follows Catherine, a translator living in Tokyo, who is hired to interpret an enigmatic scroll written in an unreadable script. As she begins the translation, Catherine becomes entangled in relationships with two vastly different men. One is a semi-homeless Japanese drifter, a grieving father who projects the innocence of his lost daughter onto Catherine. Consumed by guilt over her death in a car accident he caused, the drifter seeks punishment, and Catherine indulges in the sadistic thrill of tormenting him. In stark contrast, Catherine also becomes involved with a married Russian pick-up artist, who desires her as his lover on the side. Their relationship is strange and slow, with both characters imagining different realities during their sexual encounters, playing house in a bizarre, emotionally distant way. As the film progresses, Catherine's manipulation of both men spirals out of control. She convinces the drifter to murder the Russian man's Japanese wife, but the plan goes awry. In the end, Catherine grants the drifter the "gift" of death at the hands of his imagined pure daughter, while she is forced to kill the Russian man who witnesses the aftermath. The lines between fantasy and reality blur as Catherine's mental state deteriorates. She returns home with grotesque trophies from the crime scene-a mannequin and a blood-stained schoolgirl outfit from the drifter's dead daughter-awaiting her inevitable downfall. The film's non-traditional structure and fragmented symbolism reflect not only Catherine's unraveling mind but also the asemic nature of the scroll she was tasked to translate, offering viewers an immersive yet disorienting experience.