Carnal Orient. If you say so.
Main Cast: Akeemi Look, Wang Lao
Director: Mila Zuo
CARNAL ORIENT opens with a twitchy man in a blood-soaked apron breaking down a chicken. And while I’m not a trained chef, I’ve seen enough MasterChef to know that’s not how it’s done. Soon, the man takes a dish out of the kitchen to a roomful of waiting men, handing out dishes to each. Every dish is different; one has octopus while one has big hardboiled eggs from some indeterminate bird.
The men all dig into their dishes, and then the entertainment starts. And with it, the fever dream that is CARNAL ORIENT. This short is seven and a half minutes of what the holy hell that I originally saw in 2024 but couldn’t bring myself to review because … well, it’s not really a short FILM so much as it’s a bunch of stuff that was filmed, and it’s short.
While the men eat, Xi Shi (Akemi Look) begins dancing up the center of the room, singing a song. Eventually the men converge on her and begin tearing her apart to reveal (spoilers) a man. They then all come to their senses and stand up and move away from her.
Written and directed by Mila Zuo, CARNAL ORIENT is described as being, “A dark and strangely surreal snapshot of sexual desire aimed at the exotic.” And you get that, seeing this room full of characters listed in the IMDB credits as “Wall Street Clive”, “Intellectual Theodor”, or “Bookish Timothy”. “Quirky Quentin” and “New York Tony” are also in attendance, along with “Biker Ethan” and “Midwestern Ron”. The men as characters don’t matter, they’re just placeholders for different stereotypes of Western men seeking the exotic.
I GET what Zuo is saying here, I just wish it had been more developed, or been given something that resembled an ending. As it is, we get seven minutes of an ERASERHEAD knockoff with some Asian flair. But there’s no STORY. And I watch movies, both long and short, for the STORY.
Stunning visuals? This one’s got em. An interesting set-up? Sure. Excellent sound design? You betcha. A satisfying resolution that makes you sit back and say, “Yes, that was time well spent, I’m glad I got to enjoy that”? Meh.
The tagline for this one should read: I came, I saw, I moved on. Because that’s exactly what you’ll do. See CARNAL ORIENT for free on YouTube.
C. Dennis Moore is the author of over 60 published short stories and novellas in the speculative fiction genre. Most recent appearances are in the Dark Highlands 2, What Fears Become, Dead Bait 3 and Dark Highways anthologies. His novels are Revelations, and the Angel Hill stories, The Man in the Window, The Third Floor, and The Flip.
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