Andrew Ahn's SPA NIGHT: problems with family and sexuality in L. A.'s Koreatown

So far as TrustMovies can remember, we haven't had all that many films that dealt with Korean culture in Los Angeles -- which makes SPA NIGHT, the first full-length features from Andrew Ahn, something of a novelty. And this writer/ director's way with Korean-American culture and tradition results in a movie that, though it goes only a step or two toward any of the goals pursued or hoped for by its three-member family of leading characters, still manages to hold -- via its specificity and fluidity -- our interest and caring.

The leading character here is a young man just about to enter college -- maybe USC, if he can get his SAT score a good deal higher -- and very much part of a tight-knit family that owns a little restaurant at which all three of them work. Mr. Ahn, shown at left, appears to know Los Angeles Koreatown culture, as well as Korean-American traditions quite well, and he also knows how to steep his movie in these and let us understand their effects upon this very working-class trio without undue pushing. We're immediately made part of the work, home and religious life of the family, while the filmmaker's gaze quickly comes to rest on the son.

That son, David, played by Joe Seo (on poster, top, and above and below) with a quiet control that is slowly being pierced by his family's expectations, as well as his own sexual needs, is unsure of his proper place in life. Mom and Dad expect him to go to college, but then a sudden downturn in the family's fortunes changes everything. Dad has known about this for some time, but he lies by omission, as does mom, in more outright fashion, in order to save face -- another time-honored Asian (and for that matter, western) tradition.

Via various plot devices -- all of them realistic and believable rather than merely coincidental -- David spends a day and night with the son of a wealthier family who has been prodded to take David around with him to school classes and elsewhere. After some heavy drinking and (of course) a Karaoke bar, the girls and guys go to a spa -- a Korean pleasure -- for a little relaxation and cleaning up. But, hey, it's men only here, so the gals will have to use the one across the street.

This spa experience changes so much, yet what is shown us proves so quiet and measured that only slowly does David come to sense and then experience these changes. The "help wanted" sign he notices in the spa registers strongly enough that soon, our boy is working there, around naked male bodies that he surreptitiously admires -- as some of the men do him. And not so surreptitiously.

The movie tracks the change in David's responses to all this, as well as how his parents are changing, too. Mom works for that wealthy woman whose son showed David around school and town, while Dad, sometimes with David in tow, takes whatever odd jobs he can find, as he simultaneously begins to drink more and more. (The scene in which David, helping Dad with a "moving" job, finds himself in the home of a much wealthier family is sad and telling.)

The route from teenager to young adult is always fraught, but being sexually "different," as well as economically strapped, makes it darker and harder. By the quiet close of the film, all three family members seem further set on their course ahead, for good or bad. We might might want a tad more movement and story than we get here, though David's at least beginning to come to terms with his sexuality, and with his parents and their problems, make us understand that his life from now on will certainly be different from what it was before.

Spa Night -- from Strand Releasing, in both English and Korean-with-English-subtitles, and running 97 minutes -- opens this Friday, August 19, in New York City, exclusively at the new Metrograph theater. On the following Friday, August 26, the film opens in Los Angeles at the Sundance Sunset 5, after which a limited nationwide release is expected. To see all currently scheduled playdates, with cities and theaters listed, click here, then click Screenings on the task bar halfway down the page.

You little deer! Mythic Korean folk tale turns urban in Lee Isaac Chung's ABIGAIL HARM

It's almost always a pleasure to see Amanda Plummer at work, though how much enjoyment you derive from her new movie, ABIGAIL HARM, will depend, I think, on your tolerance for somewhat heavy-handed whimsy (we need a new word for this sort of thing: maybe whamsy). This new film from Korean-American filmmaker, Lee Isaac Chung (shown below), is said to be based on a Korean folk tale, The Woodcutter and the Nymph, though here the sexes seem to have been transposed, for Ms Plummer plays an odd middle-aged woman, evidently in no particular need of money, who reads aloud to the blind and has no compunctions about what she reads or says. With her first client, she is asked to describe some naughty pictures and seems to thoroughly enjoy doing it, just as the client enjoys hearing it. (Her second client is played by Burt Young, who has so little to do or say that the sole reason for the character's being here would seem to be the fact that he is played by Mr. Young.)

Abigail appears a very private person, who herself tries her best to keep from being seen by others. She lives in a surprisingly deserted area, somewhere in New York City's five boroughs, and keeps to herself in what appears a nearly unoccupied apartment building. Not quite unoccupied, however, as suddenly we see a large deer ambling up the hallway. The deer then (I think --all this is very fable-like with little connecting tissue) turns into Will Patton, an actor who is always interesting to watch and who gives our gal helpful hints on how to land a love interest -- and keep him. Before you can say bibbity-bobbity-boo, Abigail is more or less following his instructions, looking quite lovely and vulnerable against flaking paint (below) and, sure enough, finding her significant other.

He, who was most likely also a deer just a tad earlier in the game, sheds his magical cloak and takes a bath (Mr. Patton has a bathing scene, too, by the way), and then, just as predicted, moseys along home with Abigail. The two bond slowly, as she introduces her guy (played by a sweet and lovely-looking Tetsuo Kuramochi, below, left) to life, lunch and finally lovemaking. He's adept at maybe two out of three.

But, ah, can Abigail keep him, trust him, and form a real bond with her new friend? Perhaps. Abigail Harm is a parable about love -- how to get it, how to keep it, how to lose it and how to play with it a little -- the moral being , I  am guessing: If you love it, let it go. Chung's film does have a fairy-tale/myth-like quality, but it's not accessible enough or specific enough on any level to make a great deal of sense or hold our attention. For awhile, you may find yourself wishing for more dialog. But then, around 50 minutes in, when Abigail starts talking more, you realize that this does not help the movie at all.

Visually, there are some nice touches, lovely compositions (see above) and so forth. These, together with the dreamy, urban myth-like quality, may be enough to hold you. They didn't hold me. The combination of the barely-told story, together with the overly-bizarre title character, proves too much. Abigail Harm, more so, I suspect, than are most movies, is very much a matter of taste.

The movie -- from Almond Tree Films and running 80 minutes -- after a number of festival plays, opens this Friday, August 30, in New York City at the Quad Cinema for a week's run.

Personal Appearances: Director Lee Isaac Chung (and select crew members) will appear for a Q&A after the 7pm & 9:20pm shows on Friday 8/30 and Saturday 8/31. Star/Lead actress Amanda Plummer and Director Lee Isaac Chung will appear for a Q&A after the 7pm screenings on Sunday 9/1 and Tuesday 9/3.