REVIEW: 'Shortcomings'

By Elida Silvey

Shortcomings is the directorial debut of Randall Park, best known for his role as Louis Huang in the sitcom Fresh off the Boat, and is based on the graphic novel by Adriane Tomine about a failed and frustrated character, who is angry at his relationship and the circumstances of his life. The film begins with a conversation between the man in question, Ben, played by Justin H. Min, and his girlfriend Miko, played by Sherry Lola, after watching a fictionalized version of Crazy Rich Asians that Miko had a part in making. Ben criticizes the film for being a hyper-commercialized view of the Asian-American’s story, where the respect that is given to the film’s characters comes from the aggrandizing prospects of wealth. Whereas Miko states that, while it may not be everyone’s experience, it is the representation of Asian-American characters on the screen that matters at all.

This made me think about the trajectory of films since the height of Hollywood glamour in the 1950s, where the majority of Asian-American roles existed in the dimmed lights of exoticization and behind the curtain of stereotypes like kung-fu assassins and meek damsels in distress caught between white savior narratives like Li Li-Hua’s role in the 1958 film entitled China Doll. While we’re far from these roles in today’s films, perhaps Ben, and Randall Park for that matter, make a good point in pointing out the possibility of a new stereotype. This conversation and the opposing experiences between the two main characters is the driving narrative of the film as it takes a self-reflective approach to fight the current expectations by centering the film on the experience of a very flawed, frustrated and misguided character.

Courtesy of Sony Pictures Classics

Shortcomings depicts a spectrum of identity conflicts in Park’s quest to add to the conversation of representation by providing us with a close-up of a life that more closely resembles reality, outside of the idealized glow of Versace shirts and Mercedes-Benz. While I’m not Asian-American myself, I exist within the same realm of X-Americans — where our Americanism is diluted into a mixture of being and non-being and the question of identity sits firmly at the forefront of our minds — so I recognize a lot of the thoughts and behaviors in the film. I can sympathize with Ben’s character, a man who is crippled by his own failures and the lure of American exceptionalism, who would rather run from his mistakes than face his part in making them and instead chooses to vilify the world.

I also sympathize with Miko, a woman who recognizes these challenges but chooses to live her life in spite of them. This push-pull between ‘who’s right and who’s wrong’ raises the question of what an Asian-American experience actually looks like – providing a form of representation that far exceeds the narrative of wealthy Asians and sits closer to the canon of films that depict more complex characters, like Lulu Wang’s The Farewell.

Ben’s flaws are spread evenly throughout the film like a fine coating. We see him struggle with the power dynamic between him and his girlfriend, and his desire for white women. This is a major point of contention between him and Miko, as she expresses to him how this comparison makes her feel like a consolation prize. We see him choose to disguise his frustration under the problematic veil of fetishization and racial self-hatred by projecting it onto Miko, turning her into a scapegoat for his social and economic impotence. Following their breakup, we also see him go on a series of dates with white women in search of assimilation.

Filmed as though through Ben’s own point of view, each date is filtered under the light of white-women stereotypes; the nouveau-punk creative Autumn, played by Tavi Gavinsen, and the politically-minded Sasha, played by Debby Ryan, who adds an element of humor to the film’s deeper underlying message. Their absurd characterizations exist as a reflection of all the critiques Ben had of Miko in the first place, her view on what she considers important art, and the political overtones regarding her experience as a Korean-American. However, unlike the cold reactions he had for Miko, these women are met with warm smiles and the pretense of interest.

This act of hypocrisy is highlighted when he is confronted with Miko’s new love interest, a Japanese-speaking Jewish-American designer from New York City, who Ben deems a “rice-king”; a derogatory term to describe non-Asian men who only date Asian women. While aspects of this character, played by Timothy Simons, are humorously cringeworthy, the underlying message of projecting your own view of the world on other people without ever getting to know them is rather poignant.

Throughout the film, Ben’s character is met with a number of people that challenge his view of the world and his place in it. A really striking example of this is when his date, Sasha, ends their fling by stating; “I know you’re gonna wanna blame this on society, or on my sexuality or on your race or whatever, but one day I hope you’ll understand that this really is just about you.” This sentence delivers an important message Ben needs to learn; that he’s the reason for the things that are happening to him and not his race.

I thought a lot about Ben and Miko’s challenges throughout the film and they made me wonder about the stereotypes living in my own head. As I watched this film with my blue-eyed British husband sitting right next to me, I worried about which aspects of his physicality I was conditioned into liking, but as memories of our raceless similarities came to mind, from family dynamics to humor, I recognized that despite our differences our relationship was built on something larger than race.

Park creates a striking space for thought in Shortcomings. He coaxes us to challenge our view of the world around us and our perceptions of other people. Using the complexity of his hilariously flawed characters and meta-humor, Park continues the conversation about Asian-American representation and subverts the self-congratulatory tropes of the perfectly put-together Asian-American. He creates a collection of complicated, divisive characters and finds the right balance of interesting situations and relationship dynamics and, in doing so, brings the audience a fresh take on the Asian-American experience.

It’s exciting to see Park approach conversations about race in a way that feels reflective of the real conversations being had outside of the media’s limelight. He highlights these potentially negative and destructive patterns from our communities and allows us the space to reflect as we recognize them on screen. I really enjoyed this film and found myself laughing and wincing alongside the characters. A touching, hilarious and poignant film, Shortcomings is a worthwhile watch for anyone.