Deficiencies (now on Netflix) begins with a movie within the movie, establishing some commentary (and perhaps some self-commentary) on Asian American representation in cinema, so consider the baseline established for writer Adrian Tomine and the director Randall Park can leave that idea behind. And from there, this romantic comedy/drama hybrid film focuses on its prickly protagonist, who has many of the things in the title, although we must be honest and admit that we all have some of the things in the title. . It’s a matter of being aware of them, managing them, overcoming them and landing in a better place, which is perhaps easier said than done, as this film shows us.
DEFICIENCIES: STREAM IT OR SKIP IT?
The essence: Ben (Justin H. Min) is not perfect. None of us are. But he may not be entirely in tune with his, as a title card says, “FLAWS.” He’s kind of a failed filmmaker who now finds himself bored, unstimulated, and seemingly incapable of being positive about, well, anything. He can’t even pretend for a minute and say fake positive things about a brilliant big studio movie that’s being celebrated for its Asian American representation, and maybe he can’t be blamed, so why be fake? about the film when he considers it fundamentally false? You have to appreciate his honesty; Furthermore, there is a time and a place to express criticism of him, and he also seems unable to see the positive side of any situation. Is this guy cheating on you? This Ben guy? Who seems to be a mix of complexities?
Now imagine that you have been dating him for six years. That’s the situation Miko (Ally Maki) finds herself in. She and Ben fight a lot these days. She’s unhappy, dissatisfied on several levels, and this is due to Ben’s deep routine: he works poorly running an arthouse movie theater in Berkeley, and would rather fire up his snobbish film DVD collection than Accept Arrival. from Miko to the bedroom. Adding to his insecurities is Ben’s apparent attraction to blonde white women, evident by his male gaze and, cough, his Internet search history, although he has yet to act on it. His best friend is Alice (Sherry Cola), a very horny graduate student; During lunch together, she flirts with the waitress and Ben rudely and impatiently interrupts their sparkling banter by loudly asking her for more ketchup. Calm down brother. Nobody needs ketchup that much. Trust me. It’s a rubbish condiment. The worst of the worse. Even if you really eat it and really like it, I just know, ufff -You have to admit it.
Where was it? Right: Miko has clearly grown tired of Johnny Negativity in her bed next to her, and sees a way out: a three-month internship at an Asian American film festival in New York. She leaves it nice and vague: “they’ll take a break” while she’s gone, which she says a lot by not saying much, so let her interpret. They already finished? Like in made-made? No Yes! Maybe? Either way, Ben takes the opportunity to pursue his new box office employee, Autumn (Tavi Gevinson), who turns out to be a blonde white woman and a performance artist who makes Yoko Ono look like Celine Dion and takes photographs of the urine from her. -Toilet bowl filled every morning for an art installation in progress. Yeah, gosh, sure, but she’s sweet and sincere, and what is Ben doing creatively besides nothing? And then there’s Sasha (Debby Ryan), whom he meets at a party that Alice drags him to, a party where the lamp moves more than he does. Sasha is also white. And after a while, they seem to be arguing more than a cute couple should be in this early stage of puppy crushes, which could be a direct correlation to a hard truth about Ben here: He’s pretty much, you know. . , An idiot.
What movies will it remind you of?: Deficiencies It is populated by neo-intellectual people who are modern derivations of Woody Allen characters. It’s also a mind with a movie that Park starred in, You will always be my maybean extraordinary romantic comedy, notably purer than com that Deficiencies es: That presents Ali Wong as a protagonist who’s also not always so eager to please the people around her—or the audience, for that matter.
Performance worth seeing: Min delivers a carefully complicated performance in Deficiencies, but it’s not adorable by design. More on that in a minute. But the key to the film’s success is Cola; his scene-stealing comic relief role is the exuberant foil to Min’s dour complexity.
Memorable dialogue: Oh, and Cola has the best lines: “Just because I’m a hypocrite doesn’t mean I’m wrong!” she says (and she’s right).
Sex and skin: Naked male buttocks, in a comic context.
Our opinion: The inconsistency of the characters can be problematic in other films, but in Deficiencies, that’s absolutely the point: Ben doesn’t know who he is. He is flailing, and when he is not flailing, he is gloating. I know I called him an idiot and I stand by that, but that doesn’t mean he’s fundamentally a bad person. There’s a moment late in the film where our intellectual fascination with him as a prickly protagonist turns to empathy as he realizes that change is inevitable and that he can no longer sit still. Min’s performance has many layers; Watch him in the moments when Ben is forced to act against his true feelings to conform to social decorum, and you’ll see the character’s internal conflict manifested in his body language and facial expressions. Again, you have to admire Ben for being genuine, but when your genuine self is broken and emotionally poisonous, it’s a sign that you need to work on yourself.
Such is the universal arc of a film that practices what it preaches when it delves into cultural representation in film as a superficial gesture, and then works hard to dig deeper. Tomine’s characters frequently discuss the social politics of race and sexuality, a great and funny line that comes out of Cola’s mouth: “Everything’s less creepy without the hetero power dynamic,” Alice says by way of justification. of her questionable actions, although the film is not always inherently about this topics. They are present, as they should be, and the script’s commentary on that topical topic inhabits the compelling darkness between sincerity and satire. There’s no easy solution to such social ills, so hey, you might as well have a little fun, if not lightheartedly, then at least half-heartedly.
tonally, Deficiencies avoids easy categorization. It’s often fun; It is quietly acidic; It’s insightful without being overly dramatic. Park isn’t afraid to be subtly provocative, either: the film’s pastel title cards frequently slam shut after an act concludes in a moment of awkwardness that defies easy resolution. And that makes thematic sense considering the film is essentially about the pains of personal growth and emotional development, something we can all relate to. More specifically, it is about an Asian-American man who is mired in depression and struggling to bridge the intellectual-emotional divide. At the end of the movie, has he changed? Sure, but only a little. Drastic personal evolution only happens in big, dumb, brilliant movies about simple people. You know, the kind of movies Ben hates so much.
Our call: Deficiencies is a gem of a character study and a pretty clever comedy to boot. TRANSMIT IT.
John Serba is a freelance writer and film critic living in Grand Rapids, Michigan.
