Ben (Justin H. Min), Alice (Sherry Cola), and Miko (Ally Maki) are just normal people navigating the streets of Berkeley, California. The three experience love and loss, troubles with their jobs, and the everyday struggles of just about everyone living in America. They must face their own Shortcomings if they are to find their way in this world–and they have plenty of them.
I’m not sure that I’ve ever seen a more honest film; and in Director Randall Park’s debut he has created a masterpiece. I sat there, enveloped in this world, a world that feels so similar to mine, and I found myself identifying with Ben every step of the way. He is the main character of Shortcomings, regardless of the fact that there is a trio at the head of the production–and he is the reason that this film will find success. He’s broken, incapable of fully understanding how or why he is the way he is–and, furthermore, he’s not sure where to go from here. He constantly finds himself looking in the mirror and analyzing himself, and then quickly projecting those feelings of self-hatred on others. It’s hard to admit that you’re like a character like this, but I don’t know if I’ve ever seen another person on screen that has better represented me.
Not only is the character beautifully developed, Min finds ways to strengthen the character even beyond what I believe could have been written in the script. Every facial expression, every body movement, every single nuanced thing about Min’s performance is perfect. Shortcomings relies on a few individuals to bring it to life, but none more than Min, and I can’t think of many (if any) performances that I’ve seen in recent memory as good as this one.
I overheard a couple talking in the theater before Shortcomings began, and the gentleman leaned over and asked “what is this movie about?” The woman calmly said “people.” I don’t think there’s a better way to describe Shortcomings, as it really is just a story about people and their lives. Within that story, however, lives emotion. Emotion on a level that can’t always be seen in film. At every turn, within every single character, I found myself being slowly ripped apart by the things that everyone on screen had to endure throughout the course of the film. Layer after layer of emotion lives within this film, and, just like everything else, it’s incredible.
Park manages to develop an effective balance of drama and comedy, and while the comedy is often a tad dark, it always lands. Viewers in the theater laughed out loud constantly, and there was one point where I had to stop myself from laughing so obnoxiously that I began to cry. Shortcomings uses all that we know to create comedy, and not a second passes where comedy and drama don’t collide for something astounding and beautiful.
Park takes on what appears to be a relatively low-budget film in his first venture in the director’s chair–and what he is able to create is honest, grounded, accessible, emotional, artistic, and more. I’ve found myself recently watching numerous films that I’ve referred to as “simple,” and Shortcomings is no different. It doesn’t do anything wild, it’s not going to make billions of dollars, and it presents viewers with very normal people. What it does do, however, is create a world that is so immersive that I often forgot where I was, feeling like I was in the story with Ben and the others. I am in love with Shortcomings, and it’s one of the best movies of the year.
Directed by Randall Park.
Written by Adrian Tomine.
Starring Justin H. Min, Sherry Cola, Ally Maki, Tavi Gevinson, Debby Ryan, Sonoya Mizuno, Timothy Simons, Jacob Batalon, Scott Seiss, etc.
⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐½/10
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