Sex trafficking is a terrible thing. You may think you already knew that, but apparently the makers of “Eden” are not so sure.
They bring us the tale of Hyun Jae (Jamie Chung), a teenager in a Southwestern town who sneaks out to a bar, only to be kidnapped and sold into forced prostitution, her identity erased as she’s renamed Eden by her captors.
The credits say it’s based on the true story of Chong Kim, who shares a story credit. That’s all the real-life info offered, however. The audience is left to sort out whether the real-life story includes a rogue federal marshal (Beau Bridges) running a massive international operation out of a desert mini-storage while committing multiple murders with impunity.
While there’s almost no nudity, and rapes are not shown, nearly every second is taken up with the horrors inflicted upon the heroine by the sorriest bunch of good ol’ boy sadists since “Deliverance.” From the opening shot of Hyun Jae bound and gagged in a car trunk, it’s filmmaking as endurance test, a Lifetime movie gone upscale-grindhouse.
“Eden” won an audience award at the South by Southwest festival, for reasons hard to discern. It’s not a documentary, it isn’t entertainment, and aside from Chung’s intelligent, dignified performance, this sure as heck isn’t art. It’s just a message, screaming on and on at people who agreed with the point before they bought a ticket.