PARK CITY, Utah (AP) 鈥� was a struggling actor when he first encountered Adrian Tomine鈥檚 graphic novel 鈥淪hortcomings鈥� in 2007. The story focused on a twentysomething Japanese American man named Ben, who is trying to find himself in the Bay Area along with his girlfriend Miko and best friend Alice, who is a lesbian. They are all flawed, complex and figuring things out, sometimes inelegantly. Park was obsessed.
鈥淚 remember thinking, gosh this would make an amazing movie,鈥� earlier this year during the Sundance Film Festival. 鈥淎nd in my dreams it was like, 鈥極h I鈥檇 love to play Ben.鈥欌��
It would take about 15 years for 鈥淪hortcomings鈥� to become a feature. By then Park had, in his words, aged out of the role. But he got a cooler gig out of it: feature film director. 鈥淪hortcomings,鈥� as Alice, Ally Maki as Miko and as Ben, had its world premiere and is now coming to theaters Friday through distributor Sony Pictures Classics.
鈥淚 love the overlap between me and Alice, the queerness, the Asianness and just like the loudness, the kind of recklessness almost, you know? The obnoxiousness and also the unapologetic ness,鈥� Cola said in January. 鈥淥f course she鈥檚 flawed, she鈥檚 imperfect. But she kind of owns it, and she wants to do better for herself.鈥�
Park had and Maki prior to casting the movie. Casting Ben was a bigger challenge, he said, because he is a difficult, sometimes unlikeable character.
鈥淭here鈥檚 all the shiny things about him, the opinions and the tirades and and the snarky comments. But there has to be a deep vulnerability about him and a sadness and a humanity that people could identify with,鈥� Park said. 鈥淲e saw a lot of great actors, and a lot of those actors were my friends and people who I really wanted to work with. But Justin just gave the most interesting performance. There鈥檚 a very human quality about him that made him really watchable.鈥�
For Min, it felt like a revelation to play a three-dimensional character with nuances and contradictions.
鈥淚t鈥檚 not a type of role that I鈥檝e often seen for myself or got to play,鈥� Min said. 鈥淚t feels like for most of my career, they wanted us to play one thing. 鈥�
Park, who had directed episodes of was influenced by some of films like and 鈥淪ideways鈥� for 鈥淪hortcomings.鈥�
鈥淚 always wanted to see a movie like that where Asian American characters are just kind of hanging out in diners, walking in the city and talking about complex things and going through, you know, life stuff,鈥� Park said. 鈥淥ne of the reasons why ('Shortcomings') resonated with me so much was because I saw a little bit of myself in all of the characters. It felt just so real to me.鈥�
He also has a brief cameo in the film, as a waiter. But that was less a product of him wanting to be in the movie than the nature of an independent film made during COVID-19. For Min, getting to act against Park, and seeing him get Cola to break character and laugh, was one of the most fun days on set.
The film begins with Ben and Miko watching a film on the big screen that is a not-so-subtle reference to 鈥淐razy Rich Asians.鈥� Afterwards they get into a debate about its merits. Miko loves it. Ben, who considers himself a cinephile, doesn鈥檛. And they discuss the idea of
鈥淲e were so excited to have that scene because we鈥檝e all had those conversations,鈥� Min said. 鈥淭here are Asian Americans who loved 鈥楥razy Rich Asians鈥� and a lot of Asian Americans who hated it. But at the time when it came out, because it was such an important, significant moment for us, a lot of people who might not have vibed to it weren鈥檛 really able to talk about it openly.鈥�
It also perfectly sets the stage for what鈥檚 to come in 鈥淪hortcomings,鈥� as the characters grapple with their identities.
鈥淚t鈥檚 more of a symbolic thing versus a pointed reference,鈥� Cola said. 鈥淚t鈥檚 not just about that film. It鈥檚 about all the big films that have succeeded in the mainstream that have allowed us to tell this kind of story. Starting the movie with that kind of like big-picture thing and then going microscopically into this slice of life, opinionated dynamic I think is really fun.鈥�
Park, who loves empathizes with the burden to represent everybody.
鈥淎 movie like ours, it鈥檚 about the margins of the margins in some ways,鈥� Park said. 鈥淚t鈥檚 a complex community. Nothing is monolithic. We all have different opinions, different tastes and different ways of seeing the world. And I think that鈥檚 what excites me so much about this story is that there鈥檚 an authenticity to it and a specificity to it that makes it different.鈥�
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A version of this story originally moved in January. Watch an extended interview with the 鈥淪hortcomings鈥� cast here:
Lindsey Bahr, The Associated Press
