Written and directed by Jess Dang, triggered and wanting to escape her past trauma, Naomi, a young Asian American female, falls into the world of blackjack to regain a sense of control but finds herself addicted to the game. Starring: Andrea Bang, Keiko Agena, Cici Lau, Fiona Fu, James Yi, Nozipho McLean and Michael Sullivan.
Considering the unparalleled access to gambling in this day and age, and all of the consequences which come with that, it’s a surprise more filmmakers aren’t delving into gambling addiction. It’s such a relevant topic and it’s an affliction which can spiral so quickly and utterly destroy people’s lives, which is exactly what Jess Dang explores with Surrender. One of the biggest strengths of the film is that Dang chooses to explore the issue in such a natural manner. It’s not built for shock value, to be dark or to create some sort of chaotic downward spiral, it’s built to reflect reality.
The way that Surrender moves shows how easy it is for gambling to become out of control, how it slowly creates growing fractures with your relationships, work and family. As well as demonstrating how in a world with remote working and flexible schedules, it can provide more opportunities to be very organised and methodical with the addiction, although that only lasts so long. The way Naomi (Andrea Bang) progressively falls apart and loses her grip on managing that addiction is very well done. There’s a nicely growing intensity to it, while Dang creates an atmosphere filled with sadness, secrets and regrets.
Another great addition from Dang is to show how Naomi’s habits were influenced by her upbringing, her father’s own gambling problem, her parents’ relationship, and their traditional values. Dang’s directorial style also strongly reflects the qualities to the story, it has a stillness and a reserved touch. It manages to cover a decent amount of time, but never feels like it’s skipping ahead, you can easily see the natural progression of that time. It can however feel too slow, committing itself to that organic flow does come at the price of having such a gradual pace, which won’t work for everyone, but it does its best to keep you glued in, particularly with the performance from Andrea Bang.
Bang is likely most well known for her years as Janet in Kim’s Convenience but while that show mostly gave her space to flex her comedy skills, Surrender is a showcase of her dramatic talents. The way that Bang is able to portray Naomi’s gradual breakdown and truly capture that carefree, confident public image, while falling apart beneath the surface is excellent. She gives a fantastic performance, and does a phenomenal job of capturing the addiction and the growing damage that it causes.
She’s very well supported by Fiona Fu as her mother, who has her own issues and trauma to work through but chooses instead avoidance, stemming from those traditional values. Particularly from her mother, played by Cici Lau, who adds another emotional note, creating a brilliant trio of women to show the butterfly generational impact of how each of them was raised. There’s a lot of emotional territory in Surrender and they all deliver it so organically, it’s moving and melancholy. It does however feel like they could have explored Naomi’s relationship with Jovie (Nozipho McLean) a little further, that thread of the story gets left hanging. Although cameos from James Yi and Keiko Agena are certainly appreciated.
Surrender is a moving exploration of gambling addiction, now more than ever is the perfect time for a reminder of how easily it can spiral out of control. Jess Dang makes a lot of excellent choices which delve into this story in such a natural, thoughtful way. It may move too slowly and there’s a few threads that aren’t delved into as deeply, but the writing still does a great job of creating a realistic portrayal of an issue which is incredibly relevant today. The film also serves as a platform to highlight that Andrea Bang is well deserving of more leading, dramatic roles. She gives a brilliant performance that creates the heart of the film, one that is broken, struggling, secretive, and boarding that ride to rock bottom so that she can finally acknowledge she has a problem.
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