Contains spoiler In an effort to support up and coming Asian American filmmakers, I went to see "Charlotte Sometimes" at the Screening Room in Tribeca tonight. Supporting artists of your own race because they are of your race has been called a "pitfall of identity politics", and tonight I wallked straight into the pit. Now, I am not at all ashamed of supporting Asian American artists, directors, musicians, especially when they are very talented. I truly want to see talented Asian Americans emerge out of the woodwork. But Mr. Byler's film was lacking on so many levels, I could barely suppress the impulse to run out of the theater before the film was over.
"Charlotte Sometimes", in my very honest opinion, is not a good film. If anything, watch this film to make a general list of what NOT to do when making a movie. Here is my list:
1. Never forget your audience. Events in the film must be purposeful to the audience or they lose interest in your story.
2. Don't create pointless dramatic tension. There must be a reason why your characters are tense, otherwise, don't make them tense just for the sake of tension. Real life is stressful enough without the movies making us pointlessly nuts...
3. If you don't have fine insight into human nature, don't make a film about human relationships. There is a reason why Albert Einstein studied physics and Sigmund Freud studied people.
4. Character communication is necessary! Communication can be verbal or non-verbal. But no matter what, characters must be clearly communicating with each other. Otherwise, nothing happens. Even in silence, which this film has a lot of, there needs to be clearly implied meanings. Ang Lee is the master of wordless communication.
5. Make characters interesting and matter to the audience. Do people feel emotionally bonded with the characters? Do we care about them?
6. When dropping hints/clues, make sure the answers comes out later! When a character discovers a secret, etc. make sure the audience eventually understands the big secret.
My personal issue with this film is that the HAPA boyfriend (Half Asian Pacific American) ends up having sex with both women, while the Asian American man does not sleep with either of them. That seems emasculating from an Asian man's point of view (still losing Asian women to white, or in this case a half-white, man). The Asian women are not much better off--one is overly coy and seductive (reinforcing the sexualized/fetishized Asian woman stereotype), while the other seems to be a nymphomaniac (still reinforcing the sexualized/fetishized Asian stereotype). I would not classify Eric Byler's film as one directed by an Asian American. "Charlotte Sometimes" does very little to challenge the racist stereotypes that Asian American men and women have been forced to contend with in the American media since the dawn of Hollywood. For better insight into Asian America, try "Better Luck Tomorrow", directed by (dare I say it?) a 'full' Asian. "Better Luck Tomorrow" (affectionately dubbed "BLT") has generated a lot of buzz with Asian Americans, some good and some bad. But the controvery it has generated among Asian Americans is testimony to how deeply this film speaks to us.
"Charlotte Sometimes", in my very honest opinion, is not a good film. If anything, watch this film to make a general list of what NOT to do when making a movie. Here is my list:
1. Never forget your audience. Events in the film must be purposeful to the audience or they lose interest in your story.
2. Don't create pointless dramatic tension. There must be a reason why your characters are tense, otherwise, don't make them tense just for the sake of tension. Real life is stressful enough without the movies making us pointlessly nuts...
3. If you don't have fine insight into human nature, don't make a film about human relationships. There is a reason why Albert Einstein studied physics and Sigmund Freud studied people.
4. Character communication is necessary! Communication can be verbal or non-verbal. But no matter what, characters must be clearly communicating with each other. Otherwise, nothing happens. Even in silence, which this film has a lot of, there needs to be clearly implied meanings. Ang Lee is the master of wordless communication.
5. Make characters interesting and matter to the audience. Do people feel emotionally bonded with the characters? Do we care about them?
6. When dropping hints/clues, make sure the answers comes out later! When a character discovers a secret, etc. make sure the audience eventually understands the big secret.
My personal issue with this film is that the HAPA boyfriend (Half Asian Pacific American) ends up having sex with both women, while the Asian American man does not sleep with either of them. That seems emasculating from an Asian man's point of view (still losing Asian women to white, or in this case a half-white, man). The Asian women are not much better off--one is overly coy and seductive (reinforcing the sexualized/fetishized Asian woman stereotype), while the other seems to be a nymphomaniac (still reinforcing the sexualized/fetishized Asian stereotype). I would not classify Eric Byler's film as one directed by an Asian American. "Charlotte Sometimes" does very little to challenge the racist stereotypes that Asian American men and women have been forced to contend with in the American media since the dawn of Hollywood. For better insight into Asian America, try "Better Luck Tomorrow", directed by (dare I say it?) a 'full' Asian. "Better Luck Tomorrow" (affectionately dubbed "BLT") has generated a lot of buzz with Asian Americans, some good and some bad. But the controvery it has generated among Asian Americans is testimony to how deeply this film speaks to us.