Spa Night

This is a typical wannabe arty farty school project. There's little story, little acting, no drama, no suspense just empty dialogues and random scenes that lead to nowhere. First time director trying too hard to achieve something he can only dream off left the viewers empty and disappointed. The only good thing is that it is a short movie.

0/10 from me. Take it from me avoid this movie at all cost.

This movie has no beginning nor end. There is minimal dialog and everyone just seems to try to stare their fellow cast members to death. It's obviously low budget with some of the scenes appearing to have been filmed with an iPhone. The scenes appear to be stuck together randomly, sometimes being relevant to the previous or subsequent one, most times not. Some of the scenes are totally non-contributory to the overall story. The objective of the film must be to try and create a dream like narrative in which all the characters seem to drift through life just staring at one another. As another comment has stated.....avoid at all costs!

David is a second-generation gay Korean-American only child. His parents are not successful though they have been hardworking. Davids of college age but not really college material and David is feeling those pressures plus the growing realization that he's gay.

When his parents lose their restaurant David secretly takes a job to help his struggling parents and if it's in a men's sauna, well at least he can begin to study his other concern...

The story is interesting but the cultural differences made some parts a bit tough to understand for this entirely occidental viewer. While I was interested in David's dilemma, the unresolved nature of the ending was a bit unsatisfying.

I have seen quite a few LGBT films, and while many are very poorly done and have been cheesier than I care to admit, this film is somewhat more impressive in that nothing much happens, at least nothing that hasn't been done in other films. The movie is SLOW, and deals with the family drama of losing a business, and having a closeted son in the Asian culture over actually being a "gay" movie. This film does plenty of things right; the acting is superb, the use of language is handled in a very interesting way (it's great seeing Korean actors speaking Spanish), and a lot of the cinematography was top notch. But for a lot of the film, nothing much happens. They eat, he "studies", they drink, they eat, they fight, etc. But not much is really shown about being gay. It's really a story about a young boy figuring himself out, not having any life experience, and making the most out of a very difficult situation.

Overall, this film kept my interest to the end, but I would not recommend it to anyone, least of all anyone looking for a real insight into the closeted Asian mindset. If anything, it is an exercise in restraint, and aside from some very tame sex scenes, it really could have been a made for TV film. It also ends abruptly, and you never really get any closure. I was just not happy with the final product. For a directorial debut, it could use with a better editor and some punch-ups in the writing department. That being said, this is simply an average film that could have been something much more if they didn't restrain themselves so much. It's almost like everyone involved had no real idea what it's like to be gay in Los Angeles, which is unfortunate.

A note to the creative team; This is an adult film. Start treating your audience like adults.

This is a very nuanced, subtle film. I know some people felt the ending was "uneventful," but I thought it was a smart way to end the messiness of David and his double existence. Definite recommend for fans of low key cinema.